Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BILL, n.¹ [Sax. bile, a beak, that is, a shoot.]

1. The beak of a fowl.
2. An instrument used by plumbers, basket-makers, and gardeners, made in the form of a crescent, and fitted with a handle. When short, it is called a hand-bill; when long, a hedge-bill. It is used for pruning trees, &c.