REH Word of the Week: bill
Monday, August 24, 2009
posted by Barbara Barrett
bill
noun
1. a weapon in use up to the 18th century that consists of a long staff ending in a hook-shaped blade.
[origin: 14th century; Middle English bil, from Old English bill sword; akin to old High German bill pickax]
HOWARD’S USAGE:
There’s a bell that hangs in a hidden cave Under the heathered hills That knew the tramp of the Roman feet And the clash of the Pictish bills.
[from "The Bell of Morni"; to read the whole poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 193]
