billhook

Meaning

Noun

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. An agricultural hand tool often with a curved or hooked end to the blade used for pruning or cutting thick, woody plants.
3. (literary, often) A part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).
4. (form-of, rare) Rare form of bill hook (“spiked hook used in shops for hanging papers”).
5. (form-of, rare) Rare form of bill hook (“sharply pointed spike on honeyguide hatchlings' mandibles”).

Verb

To use a billhook.

Synonyms

bill

reaphook

scythe

shears

sickle

slasher

bill hook

pruning hook

fascine knife

pruning knife

Translations

Hippe

serpe

snoeimes

serpette

podall

flax

podão

podadera

ébranchoir

falcetto

roncola

falcis

Etymology

Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.