Billhook

Alternative forms

• bill-hook
• bill hook

Origin

Usually thought to be from bill + hook

Full definition of billhook

Noun

1. An agricultural implement often with a curved or hooked end to the blade used for pruning or cutting thick, woody plants.
• 1869, Richard D. Blackmore, ,I worked very hard in the copse of young ash, with my billhook and a shearing-knife; cutting out the saplings where they stooled too close together, making spars to keep for thatching, wall-crooks to drive into the cob, stiles for close sheep hurdles, and handles for rakes, and hoes, and two-bills, of the larger and straighter stuff.
• 1887, Hardy, The Woodlanders, :With a small billhook he carefully freed the collar of the tree from twigs and patches of moss which incrusted it to a height of a foot or two above the ground, an operation comparable to the "little toilet" of the executioner's victim.
2. (weapons) A medieval polearm with a similar construct, 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
3. Written as bill-hook: a part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).
4. Written as bill hook: a spiked hook used in offices and shops for hanging bills or other small papers such as receipts.

Synonyms

• handbill, pruning hook, hack, hacker, hedging bill, hedging-bill, hedge bill, bill, broom hook, block hook, Yorkshire bill, vine hook

Anagrams

• hookbill