arch. [OE. bisceopian to exercise the office of a bishop, f. bisceop BISHOP.]
1. To administer the rite of confirmation to (a person); to confirm. arch. or Obs.
c. 1000. Thorpe’s Laws, II. 348 (Bosw.). Se bisceop biþ ʓesett … to bisceopʓenne cild.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 5. Wanne the bisschop, bisschopeth the, Tokene of marke he set on the.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVIII. 268. [Christ] baptisede, and busshoppede · with þe blode of hus herte.
1622. W. Yonge, Diary (1848), 50. The Marquis of Buckingham and his wife were both bishopped, or confirmed by the Bishop of London.
1786. J. Roberts, Life, 29. How many of them have been bishop’d?
b. jocularly. To confirm.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. liv. (1612), 241. Why sent they it by Felton to be bishoped at Paules?
1648. Herrick, Hesper., I. 87. ’Tis good confirm’d, for you have bishop’t it.
1700. Dryden, Cymon & Iph., 243. He … chose to bear The name of fool confirm’d and bishop’d by the fair.
2. To appoint to the office of bishop.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 138, marg. Thys hathe bene often tymes … sene in prechers, before they were byshoppyd.
1641. Milton, Prel. Episc., 6. This tradition of Bishoping Timothy over Ephesus was but taken for granted.
1861. Sat. Rev., 23 Nov., 537. There may be other … matters to occupy the thoughts of one about to be bishopped.
3. To supply with bishops.
1865. Daily Tel., 6 Dec., 5/3. Italy would be well bishoped if her episcopacy … did not exceed fifty-nine.
4. To bishop it: to act as bishop.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. ii. § 12, marg. Harding and Saunders bishop it in England. Ibid., XI. ii. § 7. He bishoped it over all the Romish Catholiques.
5. To let (milk, etc.) burn while cooking. In allusion to the proverb ‘The bishop has put his foot into it.’ north. dial.
[a. 1536. Tindale, Wks., 166 (T.). 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.
1641. Milton, Animadv., § 1 (D.). It will be as the bishop’s foot in the broth.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., i. (D.). This Cream is burned too—why Madam, the bishop has set his foot in it.]
1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s L. (ed. 2), I. 64. She canna stomach it if it’s bishopped e’er so little.
1875. in Lanc. Gloss., 40. Th’ milk’s bishopped again!
