bilbo
noun
a long iron bar or bolt with sliding shackles and a lock, formerly attached to the ankles of prisoners.
Showing results for bilbo.
Search instead for
bilbos.
bilbo
1 American
[bil-boh]
/ ˈbɪl boʊ /
noun
-
bilboes
plural
bilbo
2
American
[bil-boh]
/ ˈbɪl boʊ /
noun
Archaic.
-
bilboes
plural
Bilbo
3
American
[bil-boh]
/ ˈbɪl boʊ /
noun
bilbo
British
/ ˈbɪlbəʊ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bilbo1
First recorded in 1550–60; earlier bilbow < ?
Origin of bilbo2
1585–95; short for Bilboa blade sword made in Bilboa (variant of Bilbao )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sir Iohn, and Maister mine, I combat craue Of this same laten bilbo.
From The Merry Wives of Windsor The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by John Glover
Sir John and master mine, I combat challenge of this latten bilbo.
From The Merry Wives of Windsor The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by John Glover
Hence Falstaff describes himself in the buck-basket as— "Compassed, like a good bilbo, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head."
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
Out with your bilbo and maintain your words.'
From Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
That is true enough," said Bothwell, as he slowly rose; "put up your bilbo, Tom.
From Old Mortality, Volume 1. by Sir Walter Scott
The Shire operates according to an established hierarchy, with sophisticated types like Bilbo and forelock-tugging underlings like Sam Gamgee; the latter could have stepped in from “The Pickwick Papers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Offers poured in, and it sold to perhaps the most fitting possible buyer outside Bilbo Baggins himself: real estate agent Michael Libow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
The acclaimed children's book, which follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, was found by Cancer Research shop manager, Adam Carsley.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2023
Mr. Dawood wrote in a Facebook post last year from a trip in Iceland, quoting Bilbo Baggins from “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
The second disappearance of Mr. Bilbo Baggins was discussed in Hobbiton, and indeed all over the Shire, for a year and a day, and was remembered much longer than that.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
The bilboes is a bar of iron with fetters annexed to it, by which mutinous or disorderly sailors were anciently linked together.
From Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer
Soon another colonist felt the bilboes for “selling peeces and powder and shott to the Indians,” ever a bitterly-abhorred and fiercely-punished crime.
From Curious Punishments of Bygone Days by Alice Morse Earle
The Royal James hurried down the Chesapeake for a day and a night before Captain Bonnet gave orders to free the young prisoners below in the bilboes.
From The Black Buccaneer by Stephen W. (Stephen Warren) Meader
Bill burst out, "I forgot he's in the bilboes, Miss. Now ain't that a dummed shame?"
From Gold Out of Celebes by Aylward Edward Dingle
One was a man who obstinately refused to go to meeting, and after being warned several times was clapped into the bilboes by the tythingman.
From Ben Comee A Tale of Rogers's Rangers, 1758-59 by M. J. (Michael Joseph) Canavan
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
