BILL Bill, n. Etym: [OE. bile, bille, AS. bile beak of a bird, proboscis; cf. Ir. & Gael. bil, bile, mouth, lip, bird's bill. Cf. Bill a weapon.]
Defn: A beak, as of a bird, or sometimes of a turtle or other animal.
Milton.
BILL
Bill, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Billed; p. pr. & vb. n. Billing.]
1. To strike; to peck. [Obs.]
2. To join bills, as doves; to caress in fondness. "As pigeons bill." Shak. To bill and coo, to interchange caresses; — said of doves; also of demonstrative lovers. Thackeray.
BILL
Bill, n.
Defn: The bell, or boom, of the bittern
The bittern's hollow bill was heard. Wordsworth.
BILL Bill, n. Etym: [OE. bil, AS. bill, bil; akin to OS. bil sword, OHG. bill pickax, G. bille. Cf. Bill bea
1. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle; — used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. When short, called a hand bill, when long, a hedge bill.
2. A weapon of infantry, in the 14th and 15th centuries. A common form of bill consisted of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, having a short pike at the back and another at the top, and attached to the end of a long staff. France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows end bills. Macaulay.