Word.ws English Dictionary

bishop

/ˈbɪʃəp/

bishop noun: an overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.

bishop: an overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern...
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Noun (1)

bishop (plural bishops)

  1. An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.
    • King James of blessed memory said, no Bishop, no King: it was not he, but others that added, No Ceremony, no Bishop.1641, “Smectymnuus”, in Vindic. Answer Hvmble Remonstr., §16. 208
    • St. Ignatius... In his 'Epiſtle to the Magneſians,' he exhorts them to do all things in the love of God, telling them, the Biſhop preſides in the place of God...1715, William Hendley, A Defence of the Church of England, section 16
    1. (nonstandard) A similar official or chief priest in another religion.
      • The Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings and chiefe bishops in their religion.1586, Pierre de la Primaudaye, translated by Thomas Bowes, The French Academie, I. 633
      • The Byshop of Egypt is called the Souldan.1615, William Bedwell, Arabian Trudgman in translating Mohammedis Imposturæ, sig. N4
  2. (obsolete) The holder of the Greek or Roman position of episcopus, supervisor over the public dole of grain, etc.
    • They gave away corn, not cash; and Cicero was made bishop, or overseer, of this public victualling.1808, The Monthly Magazine and British Register, 26 109
  3. (obsolete) Any watchman, inspector, or overlooker.
    • There is no place we see privileged from temptations, no desert so solitary but the devil will seek it out; no pinnacle so high but the devil is a bishop over it, to visit and overlook it.a. 1627 (date written), Lancelot Andrewes, “Seven Sermons upon the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness. Sermon IV.”, in J[ohn] P[osthumous] W[ilson], editor, Ninety-six Sermons […], volume V...
  4. A chief of the Festival of Fools or St. Nicholas Day.
  5. The chess piece denoted ♗ or ♝ which moves along diagonal lines and developed from the shatranj alfil ("elephant") and was originally known as the aufil or archer in English.
    • The Bishoppes some name Alphins, some fooles, and some name them Princes; other some call them Archers.1562, Rowbotham in Archaeologia, XXIV. 203
    • A Bishop or Archer, who is commonly figured with his head cloven.1656, Gioachino Greco, “The royall game of chesse-play, being the study of Biochimo”, in Francis Beale, transl., (Please provide the book title or journal name)
  6. Any of various African birds of the genus Euplectes; a kind of weaverbird closely related to the widowbirds.
  7. (dialectal) A ladybug or ladybird, beetles of the family Coccinellidae.
    • ‘Bishop, Bishop-Barnabee,
      Tell me when my wedding shall be;
      If it be to-morrow day,
      Ope your wings and fly away.1875, William Douglas Parish, A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect
  8. A flowering plant of the genus Bifora.
  9. A sweet drink made from wine, usually with oranges, lemons, and sugar; mulled and spiced port.
    • Well roasted, with Sugar and Wine in a Cup,
      They'll make a sweet Bishop.ante 1745, Jonathan Swift, Women who cry Apples in Works (1746), VIII. 192
    • A bowl of that liquor called Bishop, which Johnson had always liked.1791, J. Boswell, Life of Johnson, anno 1752 I. 135
  10. (US, archaic) A bustle.
    • If, by her bishop, or her 'grace' alone,
      A genuine lady, or a church, is known.c. 1860, John Saxe, Progress
  11. (UK, archaic, dialectal) A children's smock or pinafore.
    • Here; tak him, an wesh him; an' put him a clen bishop on.1874, Evelyn Waugh in Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.)

Verb (1)

bishop (third-person singular simple present bishops, present participle bishoping or bishopping, simple past and past participle bishoped or bishopped)

  1. To act as a bishop, to perform the duties of a bishop, especially to confirm another's membership in the church.
    • Se bisceop biþ gesett... to bisceopgenne cild.c. 1000, Thorpe's Laws, II. 348 (Bosw.)
    • Wanne the bisschop, bisschopeth the
      Tokene of marke he set on the.c. 1315, Shoreham, section 5
    1. (broadly, obsolete, jocularly) To confirm (in its other senses).
      • Why sent they it by Felton to be bishoped at Paules?1596, W. Warner, Albions Eng., x. liv. 243
      • He... chose to bear The Name of Fool confirm'd, and Bishop'd by the Fair.1700, Boccaccio, “Cymon & Iphigenia”, in John Dryden, transl., Fables, section 550
  2. To make a bishop.
    • Thys hathe bene often tymes... sene in preachers before they were byshoppyd or benificed.1549, H. Latimer, 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie, 5th Serm. sig. Pviv
    • There may be other... matters to occupy the thoughts of one about to be bishopped.1861 November 23, Sat. Rev., 537
  3. (rare) To provide with bishops.
    • Italy would be well bishoped if her episcopacy... did not exceed fifty-nine.1865 December 6, Daily Telegraph, 5/3
  4. (UK, dialectal) To permit food (especially milk) to burn while cooking (from bishops' role in the inquisition or as mentioned in the quotation below, of horses).
    • If the porage be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we say the bishop hath put his foote in the potte or the bishop hath played the cooke, because the bishops burn who they lust and whosoever displeaseth them.ante 1536, Tyndale, Works, 166 (T.)
    • It will be as bad as the Bishops foot in the broth.1641, John Milton, Animadversions, section 9
  5. (broadly) To make a horse seem younger, particularly by manipulation of its teeth.
    • This way of making a Horse look young is... called Bishoping.1727, R. Bradley, Family Dict. at "Horse"
    • Bishopped, or To bishop. A term among horſe dealers, for burning the mark into a horſe's tooth, after he has loſt it by age... It is a common ſaying of milk that is burnt to, that the biſhop has fet his foot in it. Formerly, when a biſhop paſſed through a village, all the inhabitants ran out of...1788, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, Francis Grose

Verb (2)

bishop (third-person singular simple present bishops, present participle bishoping or bishopping, simple past and past participle bishoped or bishopped)

  1. (UK, colloquial, obsolete) To murder by drowning.
    • I Burked the papa, now I'll Bishop the son.1840, R.H. Barham, Some Account of a New Play in Ingoldsby Legends 1st series, 308
    • There were no more Burking murders until 1831, when two men, named Bishop and Williams, drowned a poor [14-year-old] Italian boy in Bethnal Green, and sold his body to the surgeons.1870, Walter Thornbury, Old Stories Re-told

Proper noun capitalized: Bishop

Bishop (countable and uncountable, plural Bishops)

  1. (countable) An English surname originating as an occupation.
  2. (countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. A city in Inyo County, California; named for nearby Bishop Creek, itself named for early settler Samuel Addison Bishop.
  4. A town in Oconee County, Georgia; named for local landowner W. H. Bishop.
  5. An unincorporated community in Forest City Township, Mason County, Illinois; named for landowner Henry Bishop.
  6. An unincorporated community in Worcester County, Maryland.
  7. A city in Nueces County, Texas; named for landowner F. Z. Bishop.
  8. An unincorporated community in Tazewell County, Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia, located on the state line.
  9. A ghost town in Whitman County, Washington; named for two early settlers.

Noun (2) capitalized: Bishop

Bishop (plural Bishops)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of bishop, particularly as a title or term of address.
  2. A self-propelled 25-pounder vehicle produced by the United Kingdom during World War II, so called from a supposed resemblance to a bishop's miter.

bishop meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bishop in Hindi

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations
बिशप biśap, धर्माध्यक्ष dharmādhyakṣ
chess piece
ऊँट ū̃ṭ, फील phīl, गज gaj, फ़ील fīl, उष्ट्र uṣṭra

bishop in Tamil

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations
ஆயர் āyar
chess piece
மந்திரி mantiri, அமைச்சர் amaiccar

bishop in Marathi

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations
बिशप biśap
chess piece
उंट uṇṭa

bishop in Urdu

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations
اسقف usquf, بشپ biśap
chess piece
فیل fīl
More languagesFewer languages
bishop in Bengali
বিশপ biśop, হাতি hati
bishop in Malayalam
മെത്രാൻ metrāṉ
bishop in Odia
ବିଶପ୍, ବିଶପ, ବିଷପ୍
bishop in Sanskrit
धर्माध्यक्ष dharmādhyakṣa
bishop in Nepali
उँट ũṭ
bishop in Pashto
اسقف osqóf
bishop in Tagalog
obispo, alpil, arpil
bishop in Arabic
أُسْقُف ʔusquf, فِيل fīl
bishop in Malay
biskop, uskup, gajah
bishop in Indonesian
uskup, gajah
bishop in Persian
اسقف osqof, سکوبا sokubâ, فیل fil
bishop in Thai
บิชอป bì-chɔ́p, สังฆราช sǎng-ká-râat, มุขนายก, โคน koon
bishop in Vietnamese
giám mục, tượng, tịnh
bishop in Myanmar
ဆင် hcang

Examples of bishop in a sentence

  • These ministers were at first confined to the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons.1845, J. Lingard, Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church, 3rd edition, I. iv. 146:
  • […] which explains the beheading of the Muslim Bishop of Lisbon, soon after the Reconquista.2001, José Carlos Valle Pérez, Jorge Rodrigues, El arte románico en Galicia y Portugal, page 254:
  • The [holder of the office of] Imam [of Monrovia] is commonly referred to, both in conversation and in the press, as ‘the Muslim Bishop’.2018, Merran Fraenkel, Tribe and Class in Monrovia, page 139:
  • The Marquis of Buckingham and his wife were both bishopped, or confirmed by the Bishop of London.1622, W. Yonge, Diary, published 1848, section 50:

All 40 example sentences with bishop

Synonyms of bishop

All synonyms of bishop

Forms of bishop

Noun
pluralbishops
pluralBishops
alternative form (obsolete)byshop
Verb
third-person singular presentbishops
present participlebishoping
present participlebishopping
past participlebishoped
pastbishoped
past participlebishopped
pastbishopped
Proper noun
pluralBishops
alternative formBishopp

Plural of bishop: bishops

Origin of bishop

From Middle English bischop, bishop, bisshop, biscop, from Old English bisċop (“bishop”), from Proto-West Germanic *biskop, from Vulgar Latin (e)biscopus, from classical Latin episcopus (“overseer, supervisor”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”), used in Greek and Latin both generally and as a title of civil officers. Cognate with all European terms for the position in various Christian churches; compare also Middle English bisp (“bishop”). * The Tyndale Bible uses native English overseer instead.

Eponymous, from the surname Bishop.

From bishop.

Words formed from bishop

Phrases with bishop

28 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about bishop

What does bishop mean?
Bishop means an overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.
What is bishop in Hindi?
Bishop in Hindi is बिशप (biśap), धर्माध्यक्ष (dharmādhyakṣ), ऊँट (ū̃ṭ). See Bishop meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bishop in a sentence?
These ministers were at first confined to the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons.
What part of speech is bishop?
Bishop can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bishop?
Bishop is pronounced /ˈbɪʃəp/.
What is the plural of bishop?
The plural of bishop is bishops.

Words near bishop in the dictionary

  1. Bishnupur
  2. Bisho
  3. Bishoff
  4. Bishoffs
  5. bishonen
  6. bishop
  7. Bishop Auckland
  8. Bishop Barker
  9. Bishop Barkers
  10. bishop bird
  11. Bishop Burton

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bishop (page history and authors); Bishop (page history and authors); bishop (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-bishop.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bishop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bishop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.