bidale (bidal)

[ There was an antient Custom called a Bid - Ale or Bidder-Ale, from the Saxon Bidden [ biddan ], to pray or supplicate, when any honest Man decayed in his Estate, was set up again by the liberal Benevolence and Contributions of Friends at a Feast, to which those Friends were bid or invited. It was most used in the West of England, and in some Counties called a Help Ale. Brand's Pop. Antiq . (1777), p. 339, note. bidarkee (bi-där'kē), n. [Also written bidarka ; native name.] A boat of skins used by the Aleutian Islanders. There are three miles to traverse to reach the nearest river, and here I trusted myself to one of the far-famed bidarkies . Fortnightly Rev. , XLI. 399. biddable (bid'a-bl), a. [ She is exceedingly attentive and useful;... indeed, I never saw a biddable woman. Dickens, Dombey and Son, viii. A more gentle, biddable invalid than the poor fellow made can hardly be conceived. H. Kingsley, Raven shoe, xliv.