Dictionary

twibill en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtwɪbəl/ etymological
• /ˈtwɪbɪl/ etymological
• /ˈtwaɪbəl/
• /ˈtwaɪbɪl/

Etymology

From Middle English twibill, from Old English twibill, from twi- (“double”) + bill (“edge, blade”), see also billhook.

Meanings

1. A two-edged tool used in gate-type hurdle-making for cutting out mortises, with a flat chisel and a mortise chisel or hook, similar to the much larger French carpenter's tool, the besaiguë (or bisaiguë).
2. (UK, dialectal) A mattock with one blade like an axe and the other like an adze.
3. (England, dialectal) A reaping hook, especially for cutting beans and peas.
4. (obsolete) A double-bladed halberd or battle-axe.
   • [A] little fair-haired man, as broad as he was tall, who heaved up a long “twybill,” or double axe. 1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 19, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 258:

Forms