bill
/ˈbɪl/ noun, verb, proper noun
- noun A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.)
- noun A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.)
- noun A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law. “Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Prime Minister, I beg to introduce a bill entitled[…]”
- noun (obsolete, 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.
- noun (US, Canada) A piece of paper money; a banknote.
- noun (slang, Canada, US) One hundred dollars.
- noun (slang, UK) One hundred pounds sterling.
- noun A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge owing; an invoice. “He received a bill of £9 for the groceries.”
- verb (transitive) To advertise by a bill or public notice.
- verb (transitive) To charge; to send a bill to.
- noun (zootomy) The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.
- noun A beaklike projection, especially a promontory. “There is a lighthouse on Portland Bill.”
- noun Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.
- verb (obsolete) to peck
- verb to stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness
- noun Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
- noun A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
- noun Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
- noun A pickaxe or mattock.
- noun (nautical) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).
Synonyms
measure account invoice broadsheet broadside card circular flier flyer handbill poster posting placard notice throwaway bank bill banker's bill bank note banknote Federal Reserve note note government note greenback billhook peak eyeshade visor vizor beak neb
Etymology
From Middle English bille, from Anglo-Norman bille, from Old French bulle, from Medieval Latin bulla (“seal, sealed document”). Doublet of bull (“papal bull; bubble”) and bulla.
From Middle English bill, bil, bille, bile, from Old English bile (“beak (of a bird); trunk (of an elephant)”), of unknown origin. Perhaps from a special use of Old English bil, bill (“hook; sword”) (see below).
From Middle English bill, bille, bil, from Old English bil, bill (“a hooked point; curved weapon; two-edged sword”), from Proto-Germanic *bilją (“axe; sword; blade”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH- (“to strike; beat”). Cognate with West Frisian bile (“axe”), Dutch bijl (“axe”), German Bille (“axe”).
Onomatopoeic.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A beak, as of a bird, or sometimes of a turtle or other animal.
- verb To strike; to peck. [Obs.]
- verb 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.
- noun The bell, or boom, of the bittern The bittern's hollow bill was heard. Wordsworth.
Etymology [OE. bile, bille, AS. bile beak of a bird, proboscis; cf. Ir. & Gael. bil, bile, mouth, lip, bird's bill. Cf. Bill a weapon.]
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bill”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details