BILL (4)

Bill, n. [[OE. bil, AS. bill, bil; akin to OS. bil sword, OHG. bill pickax, G. bille. Cf. Bill bea�.]] 1. 1. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle; — used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. When short, called a hand bill, when long, a hedge bill.
2. 2. A weapon of infantry, in the 14th and 15th centuries. A common form of bill consisted of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, having a short pike at the back and another at the top, and attached to the end of a long staff.
France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows end bills. Macaulay. 3. 3. One who wields a bill; a billman. Strype.
4. 4. A pickax, or mattock.
5. 5. (Naut.) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke.