brown-bill
/ˈbɹaʊnbɪl/
brown-bill noun: a type of halberd used by medieval foot-soldiers and constables, painted brown to prevent rust.
Noun
brown-bill (plural brown-bills)
- A type of halberd used by medieval foot-soldiers and constables, painted brown to prevent rust.
- Let the Kanne of ſtrong ale [be] your conſtable, vvith the toaſte his brovvne bill, and ſugar and nutmegs his vvatchmen ſtand in a readineſſe, to entertaine mee euerie time I come by your lodging.1599, [Thomas] Nashe, “[The Epistle Dedicatorie]”, in Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC
- The tramp of horses was now heard, and the Lady Rowena appeared, surrounded by several riders, and a much stronger party of footmen, who joyfully shook their pikes and clashed their brown-bills for joy of her freedom.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co....
Forms of brown-bill
| plural | brown-bills |
|---|
Origin of brown-bill
From brown + bill; see bill (“polearm”).
Questions about brown-bill
- What does brown-bill mean?
- Brown-bill means a type of halberd used by medieval foot-soldiers and constables, painted brown to prevent rust.
- What part of speech is brown-bill?
- Brown-bill is a noun.
- How do you pronounce brown-bill?
- Brown-bill is pronounced /ˈbɹaʊnbɪl/.
- What is the plural of brown-bill?
- The plural of brown-bill is brown-bills.
Words near brown-bill in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brown-bill (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:
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