bill, billhook
(noun) a cutting tool with a sharp edge; “he used a bill to prune branches off of the tree”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
billhook (plural billhooks)
(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
An agricultural implement often with a curved or hooked end to the blade used for pruning or cutting thick, woody plants.
Written as bill-hook: a part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).
Written as bill hook: a spiked hook used in offices and shops for hanging bills or other small papers such as receipts.
(ornithology) Written as bill hook: a sharply pointed spike growing from the tip of the upper mandible of the hatchlings of honeyguides, used to destroy the eggs and kill the chicks of the host species.
• handbill, pruning hook, hack, hacker, hedging bill, hedging-bill, hedge bill, bill, broom hook, block hook, Yorkshire bill, vine hook
billhook (third-person singular simple present billhooks, present participle billhooking, simple past and past participle billhooked)
To use a billhook
• hookbill
Source: Wiktionary
Bill"hook`, n. Etym: [Bill + hook.]
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 April 2025
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
