bishop

Etymology 1

From Middle English bischop, bishop, bisshop, biscop, from Old English bisċop (“bishop”), from British Latin *biscopo or 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 bisp.

noun

1. (Christianity) 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
   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
   It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the Church is called indifferently ‘bishop’ ἐπίσκοπος and ‘elder’ or ‘presbyter’ πρεσβύτερος. 1868, Joseph Barber Lightfoot, St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians, section 93
   The Jubilee Mass had a special solemnity due to the presence of two exiled Chinese bishops—Thomas Cardinal Tien, Archbishop of Peking, and Bishop Joseph Yuen, of Chu-ma-tien, Honan—as well as the recently named bishop of Taichung, Formosa, Most Rev. William Kupfer, MM, who was in the United States to attend the Maryknoll General Chapter. 2013, Maureen Abbott, New Lights from Old Truths: Living the Signs of the Times, volume IV, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, →OCLC, page 375
   1. (religion, 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
      […] 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
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.
4. A chief of the Festival of Fools or St. Nicholas Day.
5. (chess) 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
   Spicy bishop, drink divine. 1801, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Poems, II. 169
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, dialectal, archaic) 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. (Christianity) 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 c. 1315, Shoreham, section 5
   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
   Harding and Saunders Bishop it in England. 1655, T. Fuller, Church-hist. Brit., ix. 81
   Here too physical effects were vulgarly attributed to the ceremony… as evidenced by the case of the old Norfolk woman who claimed to have been ‘bishopped’ seven times, because she found it helped her rheumatism. 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 35
   1. (by extension, jocularly, obsolete) 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. (Christianity) To make a bishop.
   1549, H. Latimer, 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie, 5th Serm. sig. Pviv Thys hathe bene often tymes... sene in preachers before they were byshoppyd or benificed.
   There may be other... matters to occupy the thoughts of one about to be bishopped. 1861 November 23, Sat. Rev., 537
3. (Christianity, 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
   The Cream is burnt to. Betty. Why, Madam, the Bishop has set his Foot in it. 1738, Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat., Jonathan Swift, section 10
   She canna stomach it if it's bishopped e'er so little. 1863, E. C. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, I. 64
   Th' milk's bishopped again! 1875, Lanc. Gloss., section 40
5. (by extension, of equestrianism) To make a horse seem younger, particularly by manipulation of its teeth.
   1727, R. Bradley, Family Dict. at "Horse" This way of making a Horse look young is... called Bishoping.
   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 their houſes to ſolicit his bleſſing, even leaving their milk, &c. on the fire, to take its chance; which, when burnt to, was ſaid to be biſhopped. 1788, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, Francis Grose
   I found his teeth had been filed down and bishoped with the greatest neatness and perfection. 1840, E. E. Napier, Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands, I. v. 138

Etymology 2

Eponymous, from the surname Bishop.

verb

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
   John Bishop and another grave-robber called Thomas Williams had drowned the boy, a woman and another boy in a well in John Bishop's garden in Bethnal Green... Bishop and Williams were hanged outside Newgate Prison in December 1831 in front of an angry crowd of 30,000. 2002, Helen Smith, Grave-Robbers, Cut-throats, and Poisoners of London, section 66