bill

noun

1. A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.)
2. A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.)
3. A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.

   “Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Prime Minister, I beg to introduce a bill entitled[…]”

   “Why, I'll exhibit a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men.”

   “David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is “vital to counter terrorism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.”

4. (obsolete)A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.

   “... the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality ...”

5. (Canada, US)A piece of paper money; a banknote.

   “He gave the change for a three dollar bill. Upon examination, the bill proved to be counterfeit.”

   “[…]So I wropped 'em up in a five dollar bill and tied 'em up and sent 'em, and they ain't back yet.””

   “I ran into the Devil, babe, he loaned me 20 bills.”

6. (Canada, US, slang)A piece of paper money; a banknote.

   “There was no excuse, simply no excuse for not making four or five bills a week. A little initiative, that's all.”

   “All we got from her was Stranahan's location, and barely that. A house in the bay, she said. A house with a windmill. Easiest five bills that woman ever made.”

7. (UK, slang)One hundred pounds sterling.

   “In the conversation Henshall says he "struggling to find people to go up the roads" explaining how it would be "no good for black people" and how they need a "young white boy to go up there". Stock agrees, saying how he knows "this kid" who "owes me 12 bills".”

8. A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge owing; an invoice.

   “He received a bill of £9 for the groceries.”

   “My lord, here is my bill.”

9. (India, slang)A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, listing the price or charge paid; a receipt.
10. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods

    “In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants.”

11. A writing that binds the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document; a bill of exchange. In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.

    “Ay, and Rato-lorum too; and a gentleman born, Master Parson; who writes himself Armigero, in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, Armigero.”

12. A set of items presented together.

    “Meanwhile, the bills on the main stages skewed towards mainstream pop, with mixed results. Lorde’s Friday evening Other stage appearance was one of the weekend’s highlights. The staging and choreography were fantastic – a giant glass tank on a hydraulic platform, in and around which a troupe of dancers acted out the highs and lows of a teenage party”

13. (UK)A list of pupils to be disciplined for breaking school rules.

    “One of the best stories of the period describes the misadventure of a batch of candidates for confirmation whose names were by accident sent up to the Head-Master on a piece of paper identical in size and shape with the "bill" used by the Masters for the purpose of reporting delinquents. Keate, we are told, insisted on flogging all the boys mentioned in the document […]”

14. The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.

    “The woosel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill[…]”

    “[…] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.”

15. A beaklike projection, especially a promontory.

    “There is a lighthouse on Portland Bill.”

16. Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.
17. Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.

    “At Floddon hyllys, / Our bowys, our byllys / Slew all the floure / Of theyr honoure.”

    “In the British Museum there is an entry of a warrant, granted to Nicholas Spicer, authorising him to impress smiths for making two thousand Welch bills or glaives.”

    “France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows and bills.”

18. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
19. Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
20. A pickaxe or mattock.
21. The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).
22. The bell, or boom, of the bittern.

    “The bittern's hollow bill was heard.”

verb

1. (transitive)To advertise by a bill or public notice.

   “[...] it will be recalled that in 1960 they were billed as the long-distance express multiple-units of the future, [...].”

2. (transitive)To charge; to send a bill to.

   “The physician explains that this is an option for her and that she can sign the facility's ABN so that if Medicare denies the claim, the facility can bill her for the scan.”

3. (obsolete)to peck
4. to stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness

   “As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling.”

5. (transitive)To dig, chop, etc., with a bill.
6. (UK, ambitransitive, slang)To roll up a marijuana cigarette.

   “And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch / After we done, bill a spliff and cotch / Pour me a glass of the Henny on the rocks”

name

1. A diminutive of the male given name William.

   “"My other name's Bill," he said. "I was christened Bill but Mr Thursgood calls me William." / "Bill, eh. The unpaid Bill. Anyone ever call you that?" / "No, sir." / "Good name, anyway." / "Yes, sir." / "Known a lot of Bills. They've all been good 'uns."”

   “One of his neighbours opposite, a nice old guy with a stoop and a horrible little Yorkshire terrier, called him Bill - always had done and presumably always would, right up till the day he died. It actually irritated Will, who was not, he felt, by any stretch of the imagination, a Bill. Bill wouldn't smoke spliffs and listen to Nirvana. So why had he allowed this misapprehension to continue? Why hadn't he just said, four years ago, "Actually my name is Will"?”

   “Her tone shift involved former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lampooning their fellow ex-president as a figure of ridicule. Then Harris closed the trap with a line in her convention speech: “Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences … of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.””

2. (rare)A diminutive of the male given name Bilal.

   “Bill Essayli, Trump’s pick in April to temporarily lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, should have departed the post by July 31 under a 120-day limit imposed by federal law, U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright concluded.”

3. A surname.
4. (British, slang)A nickname for the British constabulary. Often called "The Bill" or "Old Bill"