| 释义 |
▪ I. bill, n.1|bɪl|
Forms: 1–7 bil, 5–6 byl, bylle, bille, 1– bill.
[Com. WGer.: OE. bil, billes neut., sword, falchion = OS. bil, the same, OHG. bill neut. (MHG. bil neut., mod.G. bille fem., pickaxe) prob.:—OTeut. *biljo-(m (with WGer. ll for lj), connected by some with Skr. bhil to split, cleave. Applied to various cutting weapons and implements, the relations of which to each other are not satisfactorily ascertained. (Ger. beil, OHG. bîhal, is an entirely different word.)]
†1. A weapon of war mentioned in OE. poetry, a kind of broadsword, a falchion. Obs. (Probably passing with modified shape into sense 2.)
a1000Beowulf 4126 æfter billes bíte. c1050Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 376 Chalibem, bill. 1205Lay. 1740 Þer wes bil ibeat ? þer wes balu muchel. [1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 273 note, The bill here [in Death of Brihtnoth] spoken of was a sword and not an axe. ]
2. An obsolete military weapon used chiefly by infantry; varying in form from a simple concave blade with a long wooden handle, to a kind of concave axe with a spike at the back and its shaft terminating in a spear-head; a halberd.
Distinct forms of bills seem to have been painted or varnished in different colours; hence the black bill and brown bills of the 16th and 17th centuries.
c1300K. Alis. 1624 With longe billes..They carve heore bones. 1465Marg. Paston Lett. 518 II. 215 The tenauntes..havyng rusty polexis and byllys. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, lxiv. Pream., Armours Defensives, as..Bowes, Billes, Hauberts. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 118 Distaffe-Women manage rustie Bills. 1598Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 2 Inveterate opinion..touching blacke bils and bowes. 1603Drayton Bar. Warres ii. xxxvii, Wer't with the Speare, or Browne Bill, or the Pike. 1813Scott Trierm. i. xiii, When the Gothic gateway frown'd, Glanced neither bill nor bow. 1834J. R. Planché Brit. Costume. 33.
b. A similar weapon used by constables of the watch till late in the 18th cent. Also attrib.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 28 All weapons from the taylors bodkin, to the watchmans browne bil. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 44 Haue a care that your bills be not stolne. 1616Fletcher Cust. Country ii. i. 9, 1. Off. He was still in quarrels, scorned us Peace-makes, And all our bill-authority. 1799S. Freeman Town Off. 176 Every watchman carries a staff with a bill fastened thereon.
3. Short for bill-man.
1495Hen. VII. in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 11. I. 21 For..an archer or bille on horsback viijd. by the day. 1513Hen. VIII. in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. ii. App. i. 4 A hundred able men..wherof threescore to be archers and forty bills on foot. 1532G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 35 Billes, and archers, the which folowe their capitaynes in good arraye. 1825Scott Talism. x, A strong guard of bills and bows.
4. An implement used for pruning, cutting wood, lopping trees, hedges, etc., having a long blade with a concave edge, often ending in a sharp hook (cf. bill-hook), and a wooden handle in line with the blade, which may be long as in the hedging-bill, or short as in the hand-bill. (The form of the ‘bill’ varies greatly in different localities.)
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 106 Falcastrum, siþe, uel bill. 1481Caxton Reynard xxxiii. §1 The men..cam out with stauys and byllis, with flaylis and pyk⁓forkes. 1552Huloet, Byl called a forest bil, or bushsithe. 1570Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) 334 Ij paire of wood skeles, one bilstaffe iiijs. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 103 Having a forrest Bill on his shoulders. 1643W. Greenhill Axe at Root 19 It is not Falx, a Bill or Hooke, to chop off some Armes or Bowes. 1740Somerville Hobbinol ii. 80 And with his crooked Bill Cut sheer the frail Support. 1862Trench Monk & Bird xxxiii. Poems 28 The woodman's glittering bill.
†5. A digging implement; a mattock or pickaxe.
[c1050Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 361 Bidubium, marra, bill.] c1325Pol. Songs (1839) 151 Thah y sulle mi bil ant my borstax. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 3223 Thai had broght bath bill and spade. 1468Medulla Gram., Fossorium, a byl or a pykeys. 1483Cath. Angl. 31 A Bille (a Byll or a pycoss), fossorium, ligo.
6. Comb. † bill-hager (?); billman, q.v.
c1460Towneley Myst. 85 Both bosters and bragers God kepe us fro..From alle bylle hagers with colknyfes that go.
▪ II. bill, n.2
Forms: 1–4 bile, 4 beele, bil, 4–5 bylle, 5–6 bille, 6 byll, 4– bill.
[OE. bile ? masc., not found elsewhere in Teut.; prob.:—OTeut. *bili-, and possibly a derivative of the same root as bill n.1]
1. a. The horny beak of certain birds, especially when slender, flattened, or weak.
In Ornithology, beak is the general term applicable to all birds; in ordinary language beak is always used of birds of prey, and generally when striking or pecking is in question; beak and bill are both used of crows, finches, sparrows, perching birds and songsters generally, bill being however more frequent; bill is almost exclusively used of humming-birds, pigeons, waders, and web-footed birds.
a1000Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 318 Rostrum, bile. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 49 Duue ne harmeð none fugele ne mid bile ne mid fote. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 421 Þe bryddes woundeþ hem wiþ hire grete beeles. c1440Promp. Parv. 36 Bylle of a byrde, rostrum. 1486Bk. St. Albans A vj b, Ye shall say this hauke has a large beke..And call it not bille. 1563B. Googe Eglogs (Arb.) 109 To moue the Byll and shake the wings. 1601Dent Pathw. Heaven D d, As the Eagle renueth her bill. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 80 Noah's dove brought the branch of Olive in her Bill. 1847Carpenter Zool. §454 The duck tribe are distinguished by the breadth and depression of the bill. 1862Wood Nat. Hist. II. 3 A peculiar horny incrustment, called the beak or bill. This bill is of very different shape in the various tribes of birds.
b. The horny beak of the Platypus.
1847Carpenter Zool. §317 (Ornithorhynchus) Its muzzle is converted into a bill, closely resembling that of a duck.
†c. to hold (one) with his bill in the water: to keep him in suspense. Obs. = Fr. tenir le bec dans l'eau, Littré.
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 1041/1 What meant God to holde the fathers with their billes in the water (as wee say) so long, and sent not the Redeemer sooner?
†2. trans. The beak, muzzle, or snout of other animals; the human mouth or nose (cf. beak).
a1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 118 Promuscida, ylpes bile vel wrot. c1330Poem temp. Edw. II, 353 Ne triste no man to hem, so false theih beth in the bile. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2654 To hewe þe Sarasyns boþe bok & bil. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 183 How she holds vp the Neb, the Byll to him! a1625Boys Wks. (1630) 498 A third most resembled his progenitors, having his fathers bill and his mothers eye.
3. A beaklike projection; a spur, tooth, spike. Applied to some narrow promontories, as Portland Bill, Selsea Bill. Naut. in pl., see quot. 1850.
1382Wyclif Zech. iv. 12 The two eris..of the olyues that ben bysidis the two golden bilis [Vulg. rostra aurea.] 1388― Isa. xli. 15 A newe wayn threischynge, hauynge sawynge bilis. c1400Destr. Troy xv. 6407 He braid out a brond with a bill felle. 1770Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 43 Beak, or Bill (rostrum), a long projecting appendage to some seeds like the beak of a bird. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 97 Bills, the ends of compass or knee timber.
4. Naut. The point of the fluke of an anchor. Hence bill-board, a board fastened edgewise to the side of a ship for the bill of the anchor to rest upon; also a board to protect the timbers of the ship from being damaged by the bill when the anchor is weighed.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Bill, the point or extremity of the fluke of an anchor. 1825H. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 51 Another tackle on the Bill they place. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 70 What are the bill-boards for? For the flukes of the anchors to rest on. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. x. (ed. 2) 364 The strain is applied..on the palm, at a spot which, measured from the extremity of the bill, is one-third of the distance between it and the centre of the crown.
5. Comb. bill-clappering, bill-fencing, bill-snapping. bill-fish (Belone truncata), a small anadromous sea-fish of N. America. Also called Sea-pike, Silver Gar-fish, etc.; † bil-fodur, ? bill-fodder; bill-twisted a., having a twisted bill.
c1350Will. Palerne 1858 His bag wiþ his bilfodur wiþ þe best be lafte. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch To Rdr. 148 From some Trees Byll-twisted Barnacles, ripen to Geese. 1782P. H. Bruce Mem. xii. 424 The sea hereabouts [Bahamas, etc.] abounds with fish unknown to us in Europe..bill-fish, hound-fish, etc. 1936Brit. Birds XXIX. 327, I have had the opportunity of seeing ‘bill-fencing’. 1937Brit. Birds XXXI. 239 The weird bill-clappering and strident cries of old and young Herons. 1949Ibid. XLII. 286 Bill-snapping: loud snapping of the mandibles is used as a threat when attempting to drive other birds—of any species—from food, or as a prelude to attack. 1957Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VI. 13 One or two days later..courtship [of white storks] begins. This takes the form of bill-clappering and the assumption of curious postures.
▸ N. Amer. The peak of a cap.
1935W. Faulkner in Amer. Mercury Oct. 164/1 Uncle Willy looked fine with a checked cap new except for a big oil stain, with the bill turned round behind and a pair of goggles cocked on the front of it. 1957J. Agee Death in Family iii. xiv. 249 He..took out the cap... He put it on and yanked the bill down firmly. 1977M. S. Harper Honorable Amendments 9 He strikes out Josh without touching the bill of his cap. 1994Vibe Nov. 91 The 26-year-old former UC Davis economics major adjusts the bill of his Padres cap.
▪ III. bill, n.3|bɪl|
Forms: 4–7 byll(e, bille, 6–7 byl, bil, 4– bill.
[ME. bille, in AFr. bille, (AngloL. billa, an alteration of L. bulla in its mediæval sense. In cl.L., bulla was ‘a bubble, a boss, a stud, an amulet for the neck’; whence, in med.L., ‘a seal’ esp. ‘the seal appended to a charter,’ etc.; thence, transf. ‘a document furnished with a seal’ e.g. a charter, a papal ‘bull’; and, by extension, any official or formal document, ‘a bill, schedule, memorandum, note, paper.’ It was in these latter senses that bulla became in England billa, bille. Being a word of common use (see Du Cange), bulla was probably pronounced with ü, passing into Eng. y, i; though no direct evidence of this has been found.]
†1.
a. A written document (originally sealed), a statement in writing (more or less formal); a letter, note, memorandum (cf. billet n.) Obs. in general sense, but retained in numerous legal and commercial terms: see 10.
[H. Knyghton Chron. iii. i. an. 1272 Decanus Lincolniensis proposuit unam billam excusatoriam.] c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1081 Scripe nor bill..that touchith suche matere, Ne bring me none! 1393Gower Conf. III. 304 But eche of hem to make a bille He bad and write his own wille. 1424E.E. Wills (1882) 55 I..declare my last will in þis bille. 1425Paston Lett. 5 I. 21, I send you, closed in this bille the copie of un frendly lettre. c1460Stans Puer 92 in Babees Bk. (1868) 32 Go, litel bille, bareyn of eloquence, Pray yonge children that the shal see or Reede, etc. 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, xi, Every thing..expressed in this bill of peticion. 1531W. T. Epist. John 10 It is called..an Epistle because it is sent as a letter or a byll. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 25 To cast ouer the wals into the campe of the Christians, certaine bils written in Hebrue, Greeke, and Latine. 1727Swift Furth. Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 156 To whom he gave the following bill of directions, where to find them. 1755N. Magens Insurances II. 122 A Bill containing the Reasons of the Citation shall be left with the Person that is summoned, or at his House.
†b. A letter or ‘bull’ of the Pope. Obs.
1450Myrc 709 All þat falsen the popes lettres or billes or seales. c1500Cocke Lorelles B. 7 The pope darlaye hath graunted in his byll That euery brother may do what he wyll.
†c. A writing circulated reflecting upon any person; the analogue of the later printed pamphlet or lampoon. Obs.
1424Paston Lett. 4. I. 13 Manaces of deth..maden..by..billes rymed in partye. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 622/1 By sclaunderous bylles blowe abrode an euyl noughty tale. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. (1877) 273 Augustus had written a great ragmans rewe, or bille, to be soung on Pollio in derision and skorne of hym by name. 1553–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 812/2 Many billes and rimes were set forth in diuers places against them.
†d. A deed. Obs.
1548Forrest Pleas. Poes. 95 And then I dare to this Byll sett my hande. c1590Marlowe Faust. v. 74 Consummatum est; this bill is ended. 1613R. C. Table Alph., Scedule, obligation, or bill of ones hand.
†2.
a. A formal document containing a petition to a person in authority; a written petition. Obs.
[1321Liber Custum. (Rolls Ser.) 379 Come ils eient requis par bille a voz Justices eiraunz en la Tour de Loundres remedie dun tort.] 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 247 Hadde iche a clerke þat couthe write I wolde caste hym [the pope] a bille. 1423Jas. I. King's Q. lxxxii, A warld of folk..With billis in thaire handis, of one assent Vnto the Iuge thaire playntis to present. 1555Fardle Facions i. v. 56 In the morning..it behoued him to peruse al lettres supplicacions, and billes. 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. 111 That no Parliament should be dismist, till all the Petitions were answered; That is..till all the Bills (which were then styled Petitions) were finished. 1728Pope Dunc. ii. 89 All vain petitions..Amus'd he reads, and then returns the bills.
†b. A supplicatory address (not necessarily in writing); a prayer, supplication, request. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Doctor's T. 166 Doth me right upon this pitous bille, In which I pleyne upon Virginius. c1430Lydg. Bochas vi. i. (1554) 145 b, This was the bille which y John Bochas Made unto Fortune. 1570Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 234 Diligent to heir the pure mannis bill.
†c. to put (up) a bill: to present a petition.
1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. V. 141 The bishops at Nicæa, putte up billes to þe emperour. 1414Brampton Penit. Ps. xxviii. 11 And mekely puttyth to the this bylle. 1450Paston Lett. I. 153, I cend yow a copy of the bylle that my Lord of Yorke put unto the Kynge.
3. The draft of an Act of Parliament submitted to the legislature for discussion and adoption as an ‘Act.’ Historically, this has passed through the senses of
a. A petition to the Sovereign, as in sense 2;
b. A petition, containing the draft of the act or statute prayed for;
c. The draft act without the petitionary form, as is now the case with all public bills, or such as affect the interests of the public generally. Private bills, i.e. such as grant relief to or confer privileges upon individuals or corporations, are still introduced in the form of petitions. The nature and scope of a bill is expressed by such phraseology as ‘a bill to reform the representation of the people,’ ‘a Bill of Indemnity,’ a ‘Reform Bill,’ ‘Manchester Waterworks Bill.’
[1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 45 Thenne cam pees in-to parlement and putte vp a bylle, How þat wrong wilffullich hadde hus wif for-leyen. 1484Act 1 Hen. VII (1780) X. App. 103 Item quædam alia Billa..cum cedula eidem annexa exhibita fuit coram Domino Rege in Parliamento prædicto.] 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, viii. Pream., To putte forth certeyn bylles in this present parliament. 1577–87Harrison England ii. viii. (1877) 176 The clerke of the parlement, whose office is to read the billes. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 29 Ile Exhibit a Bill in the Parliament for the putting downe of men. 1709London Gaz. No. 4534/1 A Message to the House of Commons..to desire the House to come up..to be present at the passing the said Bills into Acts. 1798T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 217 Congress has nothing of any importance before them, except the bill on foreign intercourse. 1813Parl. Deb. in Examiner 21 May 328/1 [He] moved, that the Insolvent Debtors' Bill be re-committed. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xxi. 163 The bill..passed the House of Lords. 1884Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/7 We knew..that the Bill must remain a Bill, and could never have become an Act of Parliament.
†4.
a. Law. A written statement of a case; a pleading by the plaintiff or defendant (but generally by the former), e.g. a bill of complaint in Chancery; an indictment. Obs. exc. in certain phrases, chiefly, to find a true bill, to ignore the bill, said of a Grand Jury, whose duty it is, in criminal Assizes, to declare that there is, or is not, sufficient evidence to justify the hearing of a case before the judge and ordinary jury.
c1400Mandeville xv. 172 Both partyes writen here Causes in 2 Billes. c1480Black Bk. Admiralty (Rolls) I. 305 [Les querelles et billes de lappellant et du deffendant seront plaidees a la court.] transl. The quarell and the billes of the appellant and of the defendant shall be pletid in the Court. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, vii, Justices..have auctorite..to here and determyn the reherced causes..upon bill before theym. 1531Act 23 Hen. VIII, xv, Any accion, bill, or playnt of trespace. 1607Cowell Interpr., Bille is..a declaration in writing, that expresseth either the griefe and the wrong that the complaynant hath suffered, by the party complayned of, or els some fault, that the party complayned of, hath committed against some law or statute of the common wealth. Ibid., Ignoramus, is a word properly vsed by the Grand Enquest..and written vpon the bill. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 89/1 Anytus..procured Melitus to prefer a bill against him. 1788J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 485 Sir T. Plumer, M.R...accordingly dismissed the bill.
b. Scotch Law. Any summary application by way of petition to the Court of Session.
†5.
a. A written list or catalogue, an inventory. Obs. exc. in specific combinations.
a1340Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 7 The abbotte tuke þat byll þat þay ware wrettyn in and lukede thareone. a1400Cov. Myst. (1841) 41 Synne..scrapyth hym out of lyvys bylle, That blyssyd book. a1500E.E. Misc. (1855) 64 Thay schalle be wryttyne in a bylle. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xviii. 26 Than the knyghtis..made a byll of their horses, and suche other stuffe as they had lost. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 100 Whereby he does receiue Particular addition, from the Bill, That writes them all alike.
†b. Med. A list of drugs, etc. to be mixed to form a medicine, a medical prescription or recipe.
1529More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1142/2 After the billes made by the greate physicion God, prescrybynge the medicines hymselfe. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xliv. (1612) 209 Physitians bylles not Patients but Apothecaries know. 1663Butler Hud. i. i. 603 Like him that took the Doctor's Bill And swallow'd it instead o' th' Pill. 1754Smellie Midwif. III. 540 The Apothecary..went home to bring the bills.
c. Naut. A list of persons appointed to duties.
1830Marryat King's Own xiii, Turn the hands up to muster by the quarter-bill. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 69 Each man had his station. A regular tacking and wearing bill was made out.
d. Typogr. A scale or list of the proper quantities of each letter required for a fount.
1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. 29 We will now give..a regular bill, perfect in all its sorts. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 640 Typefounders have a scale or bill, as it is called, of the proportional quantity of each letter required for a fount.
e. At Harrow School, properly, the list of boys; hence, the calling-over of the list. Also attrib.
1814W. C. Trevelyan Diary 25 Jan. in G. T. Warner Harrow in Prose & Verse (1913) 107 Locked up at 8 o'clock, placed at the 2 bill. 1815Ibid. 2 Mar. 113 Dr. B showed us a bill of Harrow School for 1770. 1818N. Carlisle Descr. Endowed Gram. Sch. Eng. & Wales II. 148 The Absences for Bills..are regularly called every Two hours by The Head Master. 1894Harrovian 15 Nov. 103/2 From the Bill-yard to the Old Station. 1894R. C. Welch Harrow Sch. Reg. 17 Our present Bill Books. 1898Howson & Warner Harrow School 275 The 4 bill in summer is double, part on the cricket-ground (cricket-bill)... At yard-bill the boys pass one by one in bill order before the bill-master of the week, answer their names, touch their hats, and walk on.
f. At Eton College, the punishment-list.
a1877Swinburne Lesbia Brandon (1952) iii. 53, I and another fellow..were so used to our flogging every after twelve, the praepostor of our division wouldn't have dared show up a bill without our two names in it. 1883J. Brinsley-Richards Seven Yrs. at Eton v. 46 A perfume which told its tale to their tutors, and caused them to be put in the Bill.
6. A note of charges for goods delivered or services rendered, in which the cost of each item is separately stated; also known as a bill of parcels.
In modern use, confined in this sense to the professions and to retail trade, and implying a demand for payment. In wholesale transactions, an ‘invoice,’ containing the usual particulars of a bill, is supplied on delivery of the goods, and the formal demand for payment is made by a ‘statement of account’ sent in when the money is due. Bill is however often loosely used for ‘invoice,’ and vice versa.
1420E.E. Wills (1882) 53 Þat [they] be paied of their billes for makyng off a liuerey. 1526Tindale Luke xvi. 6 Take thy bill..and wryte fiftie. 1600B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. v, Farewell, good haberdasher. Well, now, Master Snip, let me see your bill. 1671Lex Talionis 10 Apothecaries Bills, which..amount to very great Sums. 1712Lond. Gaz. No. 5079/3 Several other Notes and Bills of Parcels. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. lv, I did myself the pleasure of discharging the bill. 1837Dickens Pickw. x, Call a hackney-coach directly, and bring this lady's bill.
†7. A label. Obs.
1474Caxton Chesse 130, I haue put on eche keye a bylle and writyng. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 131 Three proper yong men..With bils on their neckes.
8. a. A written or printed advertisement to be passed from hand to hand (hence also called hand-bill), or posted up or displayed in some prominent place; a poster, a placard.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxiii. 199 The scottes made a bylle that was fastned vpon the chirche dores of seynt petre. 1563Grindal in Strype Life (1821) 122 [They] did then daily, but especially on the holidays, set up their bills, inviting to plays. 1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 39 He set vp his bils here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight. 1621Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iv. xv. 291 It was cried to be hired or sold, and Bils were set up to that purpose. 1666Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 193 Walked..to the Temple thinking to have seen a play..but there missing of any bills concluded there was none. 1678N. Wanley Wond. vi. xxix. 619/2 Bills set upon the Church-doors to inquire for things lost. 1710Addison Tatler No. 240 ⁋6 To be seen both upon the Sign where he lived, and in the Bills which he distributed. 1727Swift Gulliver ii. ii, Put out bills in the usual form, containing an exact description. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz iii, A newly-posted bill informed us the house was again ‘To Let.’
†b. An announcement to be publicly read. Obs.
1642Scots Scouts Disc. in Phœnix (1732) I. 464 One Sunday, at one Mr. Shute's Parish Church, a Bill was delivered that John Commonwealth of England, being sick of the Scots Disease, desires the Prayers of the Congregation. 1727Swift Furth. Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 155 She privately put a bill into several churches, desiring the prayers of the congregation for a wretched stationer.
c. A list of the items on a (theatre) programme; hence, the entertainment itself; a group of entertaining items. orig. U.S. Cf. quot. 1666 for sense 8 a, and programme n. 2 a (esp. quot. 1823). So double bill, a programme consisting of two plays, films, etc.; so triple bill; also transf.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick I. i. 8 This part of the bill..must have run something like this: ‘Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States. Whaling Voyage by one Ishmael. Bloody Battle in Affghanistan.’ 1855W. B. Wood Pers. Recoll. Stage 155 Warren had prepared..a strong bill..and announced the ‘Foundling of the Forest’, with the ‘Budget of Blunders’. 1875Chicago Tribune 13 Sept. 7/3 Hooley's Theatre..California Minstrels, in a Bill of Rare Ethiopian Sketches. 1891G. B. Shaw Quint. of Ibsenism 147 Mr Thorne..was the first leading manager who ventured to put a play of Ibsen's into his evening bill. 1895― in Sat. Rev. 11 May, I hope I have not conveyed an impression that the triple bill makes a bad evening's entertainment. 1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 423/1 Theatres widely adopted the ‘double bill policy’, which meant offering two picture dramas on a programme for a single admission. 1956C. B. Purdom in Shaw's Lett. to Granville Barker 184 The dramatist was proposing that the piece should go with Galsworthy's Eldest Son into the bill at the Kingsway. 1959T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman ii. 73 It's a very long time since the name of Maisie Mountjoy Topped the bill in revue. 1962Listener 27 Sept. 495/2 Apple jam by itself can be dull, but there are plenty of variations... For a triple bill there is apple, pear, and quince.
d. to fill the bill: to fulfil the necessary requirements; to come up to the requisite standard. orig. U.S. (Cf. fill v. 7 c.)
1861Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. 1860 IV. 471 Austin..Seedling, Dr. W. hopes well from because of its great vigor, but doubts if it fills the bill. 1880A. A. Hayes New Colorado (1881) ii. 23 With this requirement in view does Colorado ‘fill the Bill’? 1890Harper's Mag. Feb. 441/1 They filled the bill according to their lights. 1904W. H. Smith Promoters i. 20, I don't think I ever saw a word used that..filled the bill quite so completely as this word ‘experimentally’ will do for us. 1954W. S. Maugham Ten Novels iv. 75 He felt that he owed it to himself to have a mistress he could love, and whose position would add to his prestige. He decided that Alexandrine Daru, Pierre's wife, would fill the bill.
e. slang. (See quots.)
1930‘A. Armstrong’ Taxi! xii. 164 The ‘bill’ is the driver's licence, generally with reference to the original held by the man's proprietor, and to ‘draw your bill’ is to ask your employer for your licence, i.e., leave his employment. 1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? xv. 217 ‘The Bill’ is the Metropolitan Police Cab-driver's licence—as distinct from the ordinary County Council driving licence.
9. a. (More fully bill of exchange). A written order by the writer or ‘drawer’ to the ‘drawee’ (the person to whom it is addressed) to pay a certain sum on a given date to the ‘drawer,’ or to a third person named in the bill, known as the ‘payee.’
A true bill of exchange is given in consideration of value received (and this is usually stated upon the bill), but a bill is sometimes drawn, not against value received, but merely as a means of raising money on credit, and is then known as an accommodation bill (see accommodation 8).
1579Fenton Guicciard. vi. (1599) 237 The merchants making difficultie..to accept the billes of exchange that were sent out of Fraunce. 1661Pepys Diary 27 Mar., I did get him to promise me some money upon a bill of exchange. 1682J. Scarlett Exchanges 23. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 2 He gave me a bill upon his goldsmith in London. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 466. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 20 An Inland Bill is when the drawer and person drawn upon live in the same country or kingdom. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xviii, His bills were protested; his act of bankruptcy formal. 1880B. Price in Fraser's Mag. May 668 Bills impart a valuable convenience to trade..they borrow the goods without payment for a time more or less long.
†b. Loosely used for: A promissory note. Obs. Hence, bill of debt or bill obligatory: a bill acknowledging a debt and promising to meet it at a specified date. Also applied (with specification) to various promises to pay at a future date, or at sight, issued by Banks, and by the Government; cf. bank-bill, exchequer bill.
1613Dekker Bankrouts Banq. Wks. 1884–5 III. 371 Next, came in Bils obligatory, a thousand in a cluster. 1685Baxter Paraphr. Philemon 19, I here give thee a Bill under my hand, that I will repay all that he oweth thee. 1711Lond. Gaz., No. 4869/3 Navy, Victualling, Ordnance, and Transport Bills. 1721King's Sp. 19 Oct. in Lond. Gaz., The Navy and Victualling Bills are at very high Discount.
c. = note n.2 18 a. Cf. dollar-bill. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1682in A. McF. Davis Tracts Mass. Bay (1902) 7 Credit pass'd in Fund, by Book, & Bills, (as afore) will fully supply the defect of Money. 1790Deb. Congress II. 2055 The bills and notes of the bank..shall be receivable in all payments to the United States. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. 438 She unlocked the desk, took from it a roll of bills, which she counted over rapidly. 1854A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants Words I. 49 Bills, bank notes; all kinds of paper money. 1924E. O'Neill Welded ii. 145 He takes a bill from his pocket and holds it out to her—contemptuously. 1947― Iceman Cometh i. 46, I t'rows down a fifty-dollar bill like it was trash paper. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 29 Oct. 7 This bold proclamation can be found on every dollar bill.
10. With specification: bill of costs (see quot. 1911); bill of fare, a list of dishes to be served at a banquet, or which may be ordered at a restaurant (in the latter case with the prices attached), a ‘menu’; often fig. a programme; bill of goods (orig. and chiefly U.S.), a consignment of merchandise; so in colloq. phr. to sell (someone) a bill of goods: to persuade (someone) to accept something undesirable; to swindle; bill of health, an official certificate given to the master of a vessel sailing from a port liable to infection, stating whether at the time of sailing any infectious disease existed on board or in the port (hence a clean bill: one certifying total absence of infection; suspected bill or touched bill, foul bill); also a similar document required of travellers in some foreign ports; bill of lading, an official detailed receipt given by the master of a merchant vessel to the person consigning the goods, by which he makes himself responsible for their safe delivery to the consignee. This document, being the legal proof of ownership of the goods, is often deposited with a creditor as security for money advanced; cf. charter-party; † bill of mortality or weekly bill, a periodically published official return of the deaths (later, also of the births) in a certain district; such a return began to be published weekly by the London Company of Parish Clerks in 1592 for 109 parishes in and around London; hence this district (the precise limits of which were often modified) became known as ‘within the bills of mortality’; bill of sale, a written instrument effecting a transfer of personal property; spec. a document given as security for money borrowed, authorizing the lender to seize the property in case of the non-payment of the money by a specified time; bill of sight, permission from the custom-house officers to land goods for inspection in their presence, when, from want of precise information, the consignee is unable to enter them accurately; bill of store (see quots.); † bill of sufferance (see quot.). Also bill of attainder, attorney (= letter of attorney), bill of conformity, credit, debt, discharge, exceptions, indictment, payment, receipt, remembrance, review, rights, etc. for which see these words.
1815(title), *Bills of costs and allowances, in the Court of King's Bench, according to the present scale of allowance; with a precedent for affidavits of increase. 1826New Monthly Mag. ii. 109 [He] made the invitation an item in his bill of costs. 1869Yng. Men Gt. Brit. 14 May 260/2 An attorney, about to furnish a bill of costs. 1911Encycl. Brit. III. 932/2 A Bill of Costs is an account setting forth the charges and disbursements incurred by a solicitor in the conduct of his client's business. The delivery of a bill of costs is by statute a condition necessary before the solicitor can sue upon it.
[1577–87Harrison England ii. xv. (1877) 272 Which bill [of dishes] some doo call a memoriall. ]1636Massinger Bashf. Lovers Prol., 'Tis no crime..To please so many with one *bill of fare. 1748Mrs. S. Harrison House-kprs. Pocket-bk. Pref., The Bill of Fare is a new and admirable contrivance. 1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 954 A menu or bill of fare should be laid by the side of each guest.
1927E. O'Neill Marco Millions i. 41 Selling a big *bill of goods hereabouts, I'll wager, you old rascals? 1945E. Ford Larry Scott xii. 120 Don't let Jim sell you a bill of goods. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 8/3 There was no production bonus... We were sold a bill of goods.
1644Evelyn Mem. 12 Oct., Having procur'd a *bill of health (without which there is no admission at any towne in Italy) we embarq'd on the 12th. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lx. 279 Upon his giving us a bill of health, I went on board. 1851McCulloch Dict. Comm. 1084 Were the said bills of health clean, unclean, or suspected?
1599Hakluyt II. ii. 44 We..caused one of them to fetch vp his *bils of lading. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiii. 62 Come aboord..with their..cocket, or bils of loading. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 207 A bill of lading entitles the legal holder of it to certain cases or packages of goods.
1645Bp. Hall Remed. Discontent. 26 Pleasure dies in the birth, and is not therefore worthy to come into this *bill of Mortality. 1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1651/4 The second of September was taken up within the Bills of Mortality, a Deal Box. 1698Congreve Way of W. iii. xv, We could have the gazette..and the Weekly Bill. 1709Steele Tatler No. 54 ⁋7 Living within the Bills of Mortality. 1724Abstr. Act 10 Geo. I in Lond. Gaz. No. 6270/7 All Chocolate..must be brought to be stamped..within the Weekly Bills in 14 Days. 1854Thackeray Newcomes viii, He was as scrupulously whited as any sepulchre in the whole bills of mortality.
1608Dekker Belman Lond. Wks. (Grosart) III. 150 By *bils of sale..get the goods of honest Citizens into their hands. 1765Phil. Trans. LV. 46 He sold the boy to his present master..I saw the bill of sale. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. (ed. 2) 225 The Bill of Sale is the instrument by which a Vessel is transferred to a purchaser.
1852McCulloch Dict. Comm. 147 The East India Company are authorised..to enter goods by *bill of sight.
1670Blount Law Dict., *Bill of Store, is a kind of Licence granted at the Custom-house to Merchants, or others, to carry such Stores or Provision as are necessary for their Voyage Custom-free. 1833Act 3 Will. IV, lii, It shall be lawful to re-import into the United Kingdom..any goods..which shall have been legally exported..and to enter the same by bill of store.
1670Blount Law Dict., *Bill of sufferance, is a Licence granted at the Custom-house to a Merchant, to suffer him to trade from one English Port to another, without paying Custom.
11. Comb. and attrib., as (in sense 3) bill-drafter, bill-drafting; (in sense 8) bill-poster, bill-posting, bill-sticker, bill-sticking, bill-patched, etc.; (in sense 9) bill-book, bill-broker, bill-broking, bill-discounter, bill-holder, bill-trade; (in sense 2) † bill-maker; bill-book, spec. in U.S., a pocket-book; bill chamber (sense 4), a department of the Scottish Court of Session, to which suitors may repair at all times (including vacations) in emergencies requiring summary proceeding; bill-clerk U.S., a clerk who deals with the bills at a hotel; billfold(er U.S., a note-case or wallet; bill-head (sense 6), paper ruled for a tradesman's bills, having his name, etc. printed at the top; bill-holder, (a) a person who holds a bill or acceptance; (b) U.S. a container for bank-notes, etc.
1774Henley in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 426 A large book..ruled in the manner of a *bill-book, used by tradesmen. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 101/1 Seal grain leather bill book, size 3½ × 8 inches.
1833H. Martineau Vanderput & S. iv. 58 The *bill⁓brokers can tell how nearly the debts of different countries balance each other.
1764Wesley Jrnl. 2 July (1827) III. 179 That wretched trade of *bill-broking. 1857Sat. Rev. III. 345 To create a fortune by banking, brewing, or bill⁓broking.
1699Lord Reay Let. 10 Oct. in Pepys Corr. (1926) I. 190 Direct it to the care of Mr Robert Menzies, to be found att the *Bill Chamber in Edinburgh. 1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. 99 By 53 Geo. III. c. 64, §2, it is enacted that the junior judge in the Court of Session shall officiate permanently in the Bill Chamber during the sitting of the court.
1901Daily Chron. 10 Oct. 3/5 Paying such surplusage to the *bill-clerk, or the head-porter.
1866Crump Banking 135 A very common custom among bankers..who style themselves *bill-discounters.
1886P. Robinson Teetotum Trees 65 The most experienced of *bill-draughters. 1894Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 2/2 The kind of mistake for which even a Bill-drafter can hardly be expected to provide. 1895Ibid. 8 Jan. 2/2 Ministers have led..a quiet, if busy and *Bill-drafting, existence.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 100/3 Pocket books..4 pockets and *bill fold. 1914C. E. Walk Green Seal xxii. 283 Here, perhaps, was a surer passport to my goal than the tickets reposing in my bill⁓fold. 1919H. Leverage White Cipher 43 Sir Richard drew from his inner vest-pocket a thin bill-fold. 1951Catal. of Exhibits, Festival of Britain 57/2 Woman's billfold. 1961J. Steinbeck Winter of our Discontent i. 40 From his side pocket he brought a billfold, a rich and beautiful affair of pin seal.
1909‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 35 He drew out his *bill-folder to pay the cabman.
1845J. W. Norris Chicago Directory 136 (D.A.E.), Circulars, *Bill Heads, Hand Bills. 1910A. Bennett Clayhanger i. iii. 21 Nobody heard romance in the puffing of the hidden steam-engine multiplying catalogues and billheads.
1830G. Colman Random Rec. I. viii. 271 The *bill-holders..were to be paid. 1847C. Addison Contracts ii. v. §1 (1883) 783 Securities..available to the bill-holders if both drawer and acceptor become insolvent. 1890Webster, Bill holder,..a device by means of which bills, etc., are held. 1929E. Rice Street Scene ii. 176 He..carries a large black-covered bill-holder.
1529More Supplic. Souls Wks. 302 They had leuer see theire *bylmaker burned, than their supplicacion spedde.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ix. 218 Th' Ape..is as malecontent As a *bill-patch't doore.
1864Times 24 Dec., A corps of *bill-posters, painters, etc., to put advertisements on the prominent rocks.
1869J. R. Browne Adv. Apache Country 352 *Bill-posting is one of the fine arts. 1895in N. & Q. (1941) CLXXXI. 159/1 One of the largest Bill-posting Firms in the World.
1774Westm. Mag. II. 323 *Bill-stickers, pickpockets, and chimney-sweepers. 1862Shirley Nugæ Crit. §2. 117 Written in large and prominent type, like that employ'd by bill-stickers.
1851Dickens Bill-sticking in Househ. Words 22 Mar. 604/1 Several *bill-sticking companies have started. 1864Realm 23 Mar. 6 With..the progress of civilisation, bill-sticking has expanded into bill-posterism.
1791Wesley Wks. 1872 VIII. 309 That base practice of raising money by coining notes (commonly called the *bill-trade).
▪ IV. bill, n.4 rare.
[For beel, beeal, dial. form of bell, bellow.]
Bellowing; the boom of the bittern.
1789Wordsw. Even. Walk 21 When first the bittern's hollow bill Was heard.
▪ V. bill, v.1|bɪl|
[f. bill n.1]
trans. To work at or on with a bill; to hoe, hack, chop, lop.
c1440Promp. Parv. 36 Byllen wythe mattokys, ligonizo, marro. 1647H. More Ad Paron. Poems 319 Busily billing the rough outward rinde. 1833M. Scott Tom Cringle xix. 534 A small footpath that had been billed in the bush.
▪ VI. bill, v.2
Forms: 3 billen, 4 bilen, 5 byll-en, -yn, (bollyn), 7 bile, 6– bill.
[f. bill n.2]
†1. intr. To strike with the bill; to peck. Obs.
c1220Bestiary 82 in O.E. Misc. 3 Ðanne goð he [the eagle] to a ston, and he billeð ðer on, billeð til his bec biforn haueð ðe wrengðe forloren. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xxxii, The sparow..biteþ and bileth [1535 byllyth] for to haue nestes of swalowes. c1440Promp. Parv. 36 Bollyn or jowyn [v.r. byllen or iobbyn] wythe the bylle as byrdys, rostro. a1678Marvell Unfort. Lover 51 As one cormorant fed him, still Another on his heart did bill.
†b. trans. with out, away, etc.
1496Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. iii. 163/1 She [the Pellycane] beteth & bylleth and casteth them out of her company.
2. To stroke bill with bill (as doves).
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 366 Like two silver doves that sit a-billing. 1637Heywood Dialogues 309, I observ'd but late Two Turtles bill, and either court it's mate. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 950 Voracious Birds, that hotly Bill and breed. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 20 Two doves billing upon the roof above.
3. transf. To caress, make show of affection; usually (of reciprocal action) to bill and coo.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 60 What, billing againe? 1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 687 Still amorous, and fond, and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a shilling. 1712Steele Spect. No. 300 ⁋1 Tom Faddle and his pretty spouse wherever they come are billing at such a Rate. 1854Thackeray Newcomes I. 295 Jenny and Jessamy..billing and cooing in an arbour.
▪ VII. bill, v.3
[f. bill n.3]
†1.
a. trans. To enter (in a bill, book, catalogue, account, or reckoning). Obs.
c1305Leg. Holy Rood (1871) 138 Pardoun in book is billed. 1615Bp. Hall Content. (1645) 58 There is none of all our cates here, but must be billed up. 1629H. Burton Babel no Beth. 52 The Authours billed and catalogued by Brierly. 1656W. Jenkyn On Jude (1845) 85 The impenitent are billed and booked by God, and at length God will call in his debts.
b. U.S. To enter in a railway book or way-bill; to ‘book.’
1867Vermont Rep. XL. 326 The station agent..billed the plaintiff's goods through to C. 1881Chicago Times 16 Apr., There were four hundred cars of grain billed to St. Louis. 1883St. James's Gaz. 15 Mar., It was a young lady..about nineteen years of age, and billed from Selma, Alabama, to New York.
2. To enter (a person) in a list (e.g. of soldiers for service), to enroll. Obs. exc. arch.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. (1858) 278 And officeres inquired whi he was so bold for to bille hem. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 190 a There was one persone bewraied, that had billed hymself in the noumbre of the sickefolkes. 1567Grindal Let. Wks. (1843) 292 He might bill three or four grave men, whereof her Majesty might make choice. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 3 As if they were booked, enrolled, and billed to this confusion. 1910Masefield Pompey 22 Send out your press. Bill every able-bodied man. Bill the women if the men won't come.
†3. To make (one) the subject or object of a bill; to libel, lampoon; to indict; to petition. Obs.
c1450Pol. Poems (1859) II. 228 Yt is myche lesse harme to bylle thanne to kylle. 1537State Papers Hen. VIII, I. 547 We haue neither billed any suche nomber of persounes..ne purpose to call uppe any oon persoune. 1728Ramsay Wks. (1848) III. 137 Poor Pousies..bill'd the judge, that he wad please To give them the remaining cheese.
4. To announce or advertise by bill. Also fig.
1694R. L'Estrange Fables cccc. (ed. 6) 429 A Composition that he Bill'd about, under the name of a Sovereign Antidote. 1871Daily News 21 Mar., At the Opera to-night Flick und Flock is ‘billed.’ 1884Manch. Exam. 1 Oct. 5/5 The leading feature of the Pall Mall Gazette ‘special’..so loudly billed to-night. 1934E. Bowen Cat Jumps 159 She was billed, it appeared, for yet another confession. 1963Listener 21 Mar. 484/2 He [sc. Kenyatta] is so much more the Kikuyu, and the older Kikuyu, than the national leader he is billed to become.
5. To plaster over, occupy, or crowd with bills.
1821P. Egan Real Life in London ix. 158 The practice of advertising and billing the town has become so common. 1851Househ. Wds. II. 601 All traces of the broken windows were billed out, the doors were billed across. 1884Harper's Mag. Sept. 509/2 The..agent thought this town..would be a good place for his man, and so he ‘billed’ it.
6. To send a bill or account to; to charge.
1867Trollope Last Chron. Barset xxxii, As for billing my first cousin, which your wife is, I should as soon think of sending in an account to my own. 1953‘S. Ransome’ Hear no Evil (1954) vi. 65 If the money doesn't come through, please bill me. 1956‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump 40 If there's a scratch on it, I'll bill you for it. 1960Times 12 Aug. 14/4 It [sc. photocopying] is used by doctors to bill their patients.
▪ VIII. bill
obs. Sc. form of bull. |