billy
noun
a police officer's club or baton.
billy
1 American
[bil-ee]
/ ˈbɪl i /
noun
-
billies
plural
-
Also called billy club. a police officer's club or baton.
-
a heavy wooden stick used as a weapon; cudgel.
-
Scot. Dialect. comrade.
-
Also called billycan. Australian. any container in which water may be carried and boiled over a campfire, ranging from a makeshift tin can to a special earthenware kettle; any pot or kettle in which tea is boiled over a campfire.
-
Textiles. (in Great Britain) a roving machine.
Billy
2
American
[bil-ee]
/ ˈbɪl i /
noun
billy
1
British
/ ˈbɪlɪ /
noun
-
a metal can or pot for boiling water, etc, over a campfire
-
( as modifier )
billy-tea
-
informal to make tea
billy
2
British
/ ˈbɪlɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of billy
Perhaps all independently derived generic uses of Billy (male name); for Australian sense compare Scots dialect billy-pot cooking pot
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:
We could see into that Holiday Inn through its plate glass windows and observe cops walking around its lobby with billy clubs, keeping a watchful eye on us.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025
The challenged California law bans the possession, manufacture, importation or sale of “any leaded cane, or any instrument or weapon of the kind commonly known as a billy, blackjack, sandbag, sandclub, sap, or slungshot.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Mr. Roman in 2008 first publicized “the presence of two members of the New Black Panther Party — one carrying a billy club — outside of a Philadelphia polling site.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
Meanwhile, Sarabia scoops up a baby billy goat and cradles him in his arms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
Three more had been knocked over by a tail swipe, and the leader was swinging his billy club uselessly at the tallest raptor.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
The first deaf player to excel in the major leagues was Billy “Dummy” Hoy, an outfielder who debuted for the Washington Nationals in 1888.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Billy, hand-carrying finished suits, had been on his way to Heathrow Airport and thence to overseas clients when he was attacked on the train.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The record executive was a pioneer of the music industry who was instrumental in signing and developing artists including Franklin, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
"Every time we go and see a play, it's not about the boys skipping out of it going, 'I want to be the next Billy Elliot'," he says.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
But it is more likely that Billy lived until 1828.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Sweaty, swaying bodies surged across the square toward the Embassy, where tin-helmeted Egyptian police barred the way with billies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Blindfolded by their helmets, billies more or less at the ready, they go through their maneuvers like a ruptured accordion.
From Time Magazine Archive
Little Rock came awake with a shock: a National Guard unit, 150 strong, with MIS, carbines and billies, churned up to the darkened high school in trucks, halftracks and jeeps.
From Time Magazine Archive
A pair of young billies butted each other with their horns, but most of the time the animals were perfectly orderly.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
At slaps the billies halt a blink, Till lasses strip their shoon: Wi’ faith an’ hope, an’ love an’ drink, They’re a’ in famous tune For crack that day.
From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Robert Burns
Definitions 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.
