Crossbill

//ˈkɹɒsbɪl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various finches of the genus Loxia, whose bill crosses over at the tips; they are specialist feeders on conifer cones.
  2. 2
    finch with a bill whose tips cross when closed wordnet
  3. 3
    A bill brought by a defendant, in an equity or chancery suit, against the plaintiff, respecting the matter in question in that suit.

    "he not having the money ready[…] filed a bill for a specific performance, evidently to gain time. The vendors filed a crossbill; and afterwards the purchaser became a bankrupt"

Synonyms

All synonyms
loxia curvirostramagpie

Example

More examples

"he not having the money ready[…] filed a bill for a specific performance, evidently to gain time. The vendors filed a crossbill; and afterwards the purchaser became a bankrupt"

Etymology

From cross + bill.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.