Forms: 1–4 bile, 4 beele, bil, 4–5 bylle, 5–6 bille, 6 byll, 4– bill. [OE. bile ? masc., not found elsewhere in Teut.; prob.:—OTeut. *bili-, and possibly a derivative of the same root as BILL sb.1]

1

  1.  The horny BEAK of certain birds, especially when slender, flattened or weak.

2

  In Ornithology, beak is the general term applicable to all birds; in ordinary language beak is always used of birds of prey, and generally when striking or pecking is in question; beak and bill are both used of crows, finches, sparrows, perching birds and songsters generally, bill being however more frequent; bill is almost exclusively used of hummingbirds, pigeons, waders, and web-footed birds.

3

a. 1000.  Ags. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 318. Rostrum, bile.

4

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 49. Duue ne harmeð none fugele ne mid bile ne mid fote.

5

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. II. 421. Þe bryddes woundeþ hem wiþ hire grete beeles.

6

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 36. Bylle of a byrde, rostrum.

7

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, A vj b. Ye shall say this hauke has a large beke … And call it not bille.

8

1563.  B. Googe, Eglogs (Arb.), 109. To moue the Byll and shake the wings.

9

1601.  Dent, Pathw. Heaven, D d. As the Eagle renueth her bill.

10

1642.  Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 80. Noah’s dove brought the branch of Olive in her Bill.

11

1847.  Carpenter, Zool., § 454. The duck tribe are distinguished by the breadth and depression of the bill.

12

1862.  Wood, Nat. Hist., II. 3. A peculiar horny incrustment, called the beak or bill. This bill is of very different shape in the various tribes of birds.

13

  b.  The horny beak of the Platypus.

14

1847.  Carpenter, Zool., § 317. (Ornithorhynchus) Its muzzle is converted into a bill, closely resembling that of a duck.

15

  † c.  To hold (one) with his bill in the water: to keep him in suspense. Obs. = Fr. tenir le bec dans l’eau, Littré.

16

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 1041/1. What meant God to holde the fathers with their billes in the water (as wee say) so long, and sent not the Redeemer sooner?

17

  † 2.  trans. The beak, muzzle or snout of other animals; the human mouth or nose (cf. BEAK).

18

a. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 118. Promuscida, ylpes bile vel wrot.

19

c. 1330.  Poem temp. Edw. II., 353. Ne triste no man to hem, so false theih beth in the bile.

20

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2654. To hewe þe Sarasyns boþe bok & bil.

21

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 183. How she holds vp the Neb, the Byll to him!

22

a. 1625.  Boys, Wks. (1630), 498. A third most resembled his progenitors, having his fathers bill and his mothers eye.

23

  3.  A beaklike projection; a spur, tooth, spike. Applied to some narrow promontories, as Portland Bill, Selsea Bill. Naut. in pl., see quot. 1850.

24

1382.  Wyclif, Zech. iv. 12. The two eris … of the olyues that ben bysidis the two golden bilis [Vulg. rostra aurea]. Ibid. (1388), Isa. xli. 15. A newe wayn threischynge, hauynge sawynge bilis.

25

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XV. 6407. He braid out a brond with a bill felle.

26

1770.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), I. 43. Beak, or Bill (rostrum), a long projecting appendage to some seeds like the beak of a bird.

27

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 97. Bills, the ends of compass or knee timber.

28

  4.  Naut. The point of the fluke of an anchor. Hence Bill-board, a board fastened edgewise to the side of a ship for the bill of the anchor to rest upon; also a board to protect the timbers of the ship from being damaged by the bill when the anchor is weighed.

29

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Bill, the point or extremity of the fluke of an anchor.

30

1825.  H. Gascoigne, Nav. Fame, 51. Another tackle on the Bill they place.

31

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 70. What are the bill-boards for? For the flukes of the anchors to rest on.

32

1875.  Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., x. (ed. 2), 364. The strain is applied … on the palm, at a spot which, measured from the extremity of the bill, is one-third of the distance between it and the centre of the crown.

33

  5.  Comb. Bill-fish (Belone truncata), a small anadromous sea-fish of N. America. Also called Sea-pike, Silver Gar-fish, etc.; † bil-fodur, ? bill-fodder; bill-twisted a., having a twisted bill.

34

1782.  P. H. Bruce, Mem., XII. 424. The sea hereabouts [Bahamas, etc.] abounds with fish unknown to us in Europe … bill-fish, hound-fish, [etc.].

35

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 1858. His bag wiþ his bilfodur wiþ þe best be lafte.

36

1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch, To Rdr. 148. From some Trees Byll-twisted Barnacles, ripen to Geese.

37