BILGE-TREES. Another name for bilge-coads.
BILGE-WATER. The rain or sea-water which occasionally enters a vessel, and running down to her floor, remains in the bilge of the ship till pumped out, by reason of her flat bottom, which prevents it from going to the well of the pump; it is always (especially if the ship does not leak) of a dirty colour and disgusting penetrating smell. It seems to have been a sad nuisance in early voyages; and in the earliest sea-ballad known (temp. Hen. VI.) it is thus grumbled at:—
"A sak of strawe were there ryght good,
For som must lyg theym in theyr hood,
I had as lefe be in the wood
W'out mete or drynk.
For when that we shall go to bedde,
The pumpe was nygh our bedde's hedde;
A man were as good to be dede
As smell thereof ye stynk."
The mixture of tar-water and the drainings of sugar cargo is about the worst perfume known.
BILL. A weapon or implement of war, a pike or halbert of the English infantry. It was formerly carried by sentinels, whence Shakspeare humorously made Dogberry tell the sleepy watchmen to have a care that their bills be not stolen. Also, the point or tapered extremity of the fluke at the arm of an anchor. Also a point of land, of which a familiar instance may be cited in the Bill of Portland.
BILLAT. A name on the coast of Yorkshire for the piltock or coal-fish, when it is a year old.
BILL-BOARDS. Doubling under the fore-channels to the water-line, to protect the planking from the bill of the anchor.
BILLET. The allowance to landlords for quartering men in the royal service; the lodging-money charged by consuls for the same.
BILLET-HEAD. A carved prow bending in and out, contrariwise to the fiddle-head (scroll-head). Also, a round piece of wood fixed in the bow or stern of a whale-boat, about which the line is veered when the whale is struck. Synonymous with bollard.
BILLET-WOOD. Small wood mostly used for dunnage in stowing ships' cargoes, also for fuel, usually sold by the fathom; it is 3 feet 4 inches long, and 71⁄2 inches in compass.