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Billhook
Definitions
- 1 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.
- 2 a cutting tool with a sharp edge wordnet
- 3 An agricultural hand tool often with a curved or hooked end to the blade used for pruning or cutting thick, woody plants.
"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."
- 4 A part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery). literary, often
- 5 Rare form of bill hook (“spiked hook used in shops for hanging papers”). form-of, rare
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- 6 Rare form of bill hook (“sharply pointed spike on honeyguide hatchlings' mandibles”). form-of, rare
- 1 To use a billhook.
"Toward the end of July, Vatanen took a forestry job. It meant billhooking and chopping excessive undergrowth from the woods on the sandy ridges around Kuhmo and living in a tent with an ever more faithful, almost full- grown hare."
Etymology
Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.
Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.
See also for "billhook"
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