Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The office or rank of a bishop.
  • noun The diocese of a bishop.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The office or dignity of a bishop.
  • noun The district over which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends; a diocese.
  • noun The charge of instructing and governing in spiritual concerns; overseership.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A diocese; the district over which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends.
  • noun The office of a spiritual overseer, as of an apostle, bishop, or presbyter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A diocese or region of a church which a bishop governs.
  • noun The office or function of being a bishop

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bishoprik, from Old English bisceoprīce, the diocese of a bishop : bisceop, bishop; see bishop + rīce, realm; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English bisceoprīċe, equivalent to bishop +‎ -ric (compare German Reich).

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Examples

Comments

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  • And I thought it was short for Bishop Richard.

    August 9, 2008

  • the extremity most cited as the cause of the fall of what Milton called our "corrupted clergy"

    May 25, 2009

  • Sounds like a unit of measurement - I suppose it is, in a way.

    May 25, 2009