long billn.1
/ˌlɒŋ ˈbɪl/, U.S. /ˈlɔŋ ˈˌbɪl/, /ˈlɑŋ ˈˌbɪl/ A bill listing a great number of goods supplied or services rendered. Hence: an (excessively) expensive bill.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > invoice or bill > types of
long bill1616
by-bill1732
house bill1754
gas bill1816
advice note1834
pro forma1836
wash-bill1873
telephone bill1889
phone bill1936
1616 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Scornful Ladie i. i. sig. C3 Fire off thy annotations and thy rent bookes; thou hast a weake braine Sauill, and with the next long Bill thou wilt runne mad.
a1687 C. Cotton Poems (1689) 477 From long Bills where we are debters.
1709 E. Ward Secret Hist. Clubs xiv. 132 His long Bill's more than the Pox, may fright His Patients from repeating Loves Delight.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. lxii. 286 The landlady, coming one day with a long bill when I was from home.
1827 W. P. Scargill Blue-stocking Hall II. xv. 99 Those terrible law folks with their long bills, and yellow faces.
1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xiii. 149 We had to wait a long time for a poor dinner, and pay a long bill for it when it came.
1905 Brit. Jrnl Dental Sci. 48 958 If they called in an outsider they would have to pay a long bill.
2004 L. D. Hurst in S. E. McGinn Celebrating Romans 244 Those who refuse to repent are allowed to run up a long bill against the final day of reckoning.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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