billhook
billhook noun: 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. Also the rare form of bill hook.
Noun
billhook (plural billhooks)
- 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.
- 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...1869, Richard D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, chapter 38
- With a small billhook he carefully freed the collar of the tree from twigs and patches of moss which incrusted it to a height of a foot or two above the ground, an operation comparable to the "little toilet" of the executioner's victim.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “chapter 19”, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- A part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).
Verb
billhook (third-person singular simple present billhooks, present participle billhooking, simple past and past participle billhooked)
- 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.2010, Arto Paasilinna, The Year of the Hare: A Novel
Also used as
billhook is also the rare form of bill hook.
billhook meaning in Tamil
billhook in Tamil
- agricultural implement
- வீச்சரிவாள் vīccarivāḷ
Synonyms of billhook
- handbill
- pruning hook
- hack
- hacker
- hedging bill
- hedging-bill
- hedge bill
- bill
- broom hook
- block hook
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- Yorkshire bill
- vine hook
Forms of billhook
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | billhooks |
| alternative form | bill-hook |
| alternative form | bill hook |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | billhooks |
| present participle | billhooking |
| past participle | billhooked |
| past | billhooked |
Origin of billhook
Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.
Questions about billhook
- What does billhook mean?
- Billhook means 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.
- What is billhook in Tamil?
- Billhook in Tamil is வீச்சரிவாள் (vīccarivāḷ). See Billhook meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is billhook?
- Billhook can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of billhook?
- The plural of billhook is billhooks.
Words near billhook in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: billhook (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-billhook.wav.
Cite this entry: “billhook.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/billhook. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.