noun
- the bill of a bird; neb.
- any similar horny mouthpart in other animals, as the turtle or duckbill.
- anything beaklike or ending in a point, as the spout of a pitcher.
- Slang. a person’s nose.
- Entomology. proboscis(def 3).
- Botany. a narrowed or prolonged tip.
- Nautical. (formerly) a metal or metal-sheathed projection from the bow of a warship, used to ram enemy vessels; ram; rostrum.
- Typography. a serif on the arm of a character, as of a K.
- Also called bird’s beak. Architecture. a pendant molding forming a drip, as on the soffit of a cornice.
- Chiefly British Slang.
- a judge; magistrate.
- a schoolmaster.
noun
- the projecting jaws of a bird, covered with a horny sheath; bill
- any beaklike mouthpart in other animals, such as turtles
- slang a person’s nose, esp one that is large, pointed, or hooked
- any projecting part, such as the pouring lip of a bucket
- architect the upper surface of a cornice, which slopes out to throw off water
- chem the part of a still or retort through which vapour passes to the condenser
- nautical another word for ram (def. 5)
noun
- a Brit slang word for judge, magistrate, headmaster, schoolmaster
mid-13c., “bird’s bill,” from Old French bec “beak,” figuratively “mouth,” also “tip or point of a nose, a lance, a ship, a shoe,” from Latin beccus (cf. Italian becco, Spanish pico), said by Suetonius (“De vita Caesarum” 18) to be of Gaulish origin, perhaps from Gaulish beccus, possibly related to Celtic stem bacc- “hook.” Or there may be a link in Old English becca “pickax, sharp end.” Jocular sense of “human nose” is from 1854 (but also was used mid-15c. in the same sense).