Bill
(Bill), n. The bell, or boom, of the bittern
The bittern's hollow bill was heard.
Wordsworth.
Bill
(Bill), n. [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.
3. One who wields a bill; a billman. Strype.
4. A pickax, or mattock. [Obs.]
5. (Naut.) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke.
Bill
(Bill) v. t. To work upon ( as to dig, hoe, hack, or chop anything) with a bill.
Bill
(Bill), n. [OE. bill, bille, fr. LL. billa for L. bulla anything rounded, LL., seal, stamp, letter, edict,
roll; cf. F. bille a ball, prob. fr. Ger.; cf. MHG. bickel, D. bikkel, dice. Cf. Bull papal edict, Billet a
paper.]
1. (Law) A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the
defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
2. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or
without interest, as may be stated in the document. [Eng.]
In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
3. A form or draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
4. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play,
or the sale of goods; a placard; a poster; a handbill.
She put up the bill in her parlor window.
Dickens.
5. An account of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; a statement of a
creditor's claim, in gross or by items; as, a grocer's bill.
6. Any paper, containing a statement of particulars; as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a weekly bill of
mortality; a bill of fare, etc.
Bill of adventure.
See under Adventure. — Bill of costs, a statement of the items which form the
total amount of the costs of a party to a suit or action. — Bill of credit. (a) Within the constitution of
the United States, a paper issued by a State, on the mere faith and credit of the State, and designed
to circulate as money. No State shall "emit bills of credit." U. S. Const. Peters. Wharton. Bouvier
(b) Among merchants, a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give
credit to the bearer for goods or money. — Bill of divorce, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the
husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. Jer. iii. 8. — Bill of entry, a
written account of goods entered at the customhouse, whether imported or intended for exportation. —