Meaning

noun a minor parish official who serves a ceremonial function

noun United States biologist who discovered how hereditary characteristics are transmitted by genes (1903-1989)

originFrom Middle English bedel, bidel, from Old English bydel (“warrant officer, apparitor”), from Proto-West Germanic *budil, from Proto-Germanic *budilaz (“herald”), equivalent to bid + -le. Cognate with Dutch beul, German Büttel. More at bid.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0