hedging bill

Noun

billhook (plural billhooks)

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.
   • 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
3. (literary, often) A part of the knotting mechanism in a reaper-binder or baler (agricultural machinery).

See all 4 meanings of billhook