billhook
noun, verb
Forms billhooks billhooking billhooked bill-hook bill hook
- noun (weaponry) A medieval polearm, fitted to a long handle, sometimes with an L-shaped tine or a spike protruding from the side or the end of the blade for tackling the opponent; a bill.
- noun An agricultural hand tool often with a curved or hooked end to the blade used for pruning or cutting thick, woody plants.
- noun (often written as bill-hook) A part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).
- verb To use a billhook.
Synonyms
handbill pruning hook hack hacker hedging bill hedging-bill hedge bill bill broom hook block hook Yorkshire bill vine hook
Etymology
Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A thick, heavy knife with a hooked point, used in pruning hedges, etc. When it has a short handle, it is sometimes called a hand bill; when the handle is long, a hedge bill or scimiter.
Etymology [Bill + hook.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “billhook”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details