[see -HOOD.] The state or dignity of a beadle. So Beadleism.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xvii. Mr. Bumble … was in the full bloom and pride of beadleism. [Later edd. read ‘beadledom,’ and ‘beadlehood.’ The latter is in the C. D. ed.]
1860. D. Jerrold, in New-York Times, 31 July, 4/4. Some short time since the old Beadle, at the Burlington Arcade, went the way of all beadlehood.
