billhook

American  

[bil-hook] / ˈbɪlˌhʊk /

noun

1. bill.

---

billhook British  

/ ˈbɪlˌhʊk /

noun

1. Also called: bill.  a cutting tool with a wooden handle and a curved blade terminating in a hook at its tip, used for pruning, chopping, etc

---

Etymology

Origin of billhook

First recorded in 1605–15; bill ³ + hook ¹

Example Sentences

Watch Tim Radford — in dreadlocks, just 36, the future of the sport — wielding his billhook blade and laying into his section of brush like the queen’s own tree surgeon.

From Washington Post • Jan. 11, 2019

Max Reinhardt, whose castle�Leopoldskron�overlooks the crenelated streets of the old cathedral town, sent some weeks ago an army of mercenaries against the riding school with billhook, adz, hammer, saw.

From Time Magazine Archive

The canes are cut with a billhook, one at a time; and being fastened together in faggots, are sent off to the crushing-mill on mules’ backs or in carts.

From Old Jack by Kingston, William Henry Giles

As Mark cut them down, some ash, some willow, and a few alder, Bevis stripped off the twigs with a billhook, and shortened them to the proper length.

From Bevis The Story of a Boy by Jefferies, Richard

But now they chop and slash away without remorse, and the young forest-tree rising up with a promise of future beauty falls before the billhook.

From The Gamekeeper At Home Sketches of Natural History and Rural Life by Jefferies, Richard

Related Words

• machete