bilkt (bilk)

[See the verb.] Fallacious; unreliable. To that [Oates's plot] and the author's bilk account of it I am approaching. Roger North , Examen, p. 129. billl (bil), n. [ bill , bil , bille , bile , bile , beak, also used of an elephant's proboscis; not found in other Teut. languages; prob. connected with bill2. dc The Ir. Gael. bil, beak, bhg mouth, is appar. of E. origin.] 1. The beak or neb of a bird. It consists e of the upper and lower mandibles, so far as these are sheathed in horn. The apposed edges of the mandibles are the tomia; the line of apposition, the commi ure; the highest middle lengthwise line of the upper mandible, the culmen or ridge; and the corresponding line of the lower mandible, the gonys or Thanne geth he [the eagle] to a ston, And he billeth ther on, Billeth til his bec biforn Haveth the wrengthe [crookedne ] forloren. Bestiary , in Old Eng. Misc. (ed. Morris), p. 82. Bill and coo, to ki and care and talk nonsense, as lovers: a phrase derived from the habits of doves. Come, we must interrupt your billing and cooing awhile. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2. bill2 (bil), n. [ bill , bille , bil , a pick or mattock, poet. a sword, bil , bill (only poet.) = OS. bil , a sword, = MD. bille = OHG. bill , fem., MHG. bil , neut., G. bille , a pick to sharpen millstones, = Sw. bill , a plowshare; prob. connected with billl , a beak, and perhaps ult. with Skt. bhid , split, cleave. A ociated in sense with these words and somewhat confused with them, but etymol. distinct, are OHG. bihal , bi al, bil , MHG. bihel , bil , G. beil MD. bijl , an ax, hatchet, = Dan. bil = Sw . bila ; prob. = Icel. bīldr , bilda , an ax; cf. Ir. Gael. biail , ax, hatchet. In sense 5, bill2 may be an application of bill1 .] 1. In the earliest use, a kind of broadsword.-2. An obsolete military weapon, consisting of a broad hook-shaped blade, Elizabeth. = Old English having a short pike at the back Bill, time of and another at the summit, fixed to a long handle. It was used until the fifteenth century by the English infantry, especially in defending themselves against cavalry, and to the end of the seventeenth century by civic guards or watchmen, etc. They were formerly sometimes called brown- bills or black bills , probably because not brightened, but colored like the modern rifle-barrel. I cannot see how sleeping should offend, only have a care that your bills be not stolen. Shak . , Much Ado, iii. 3. Make us a round ring with your bills , my Hectors, And let us see what this trim man dares do. Beau, and Fl., Phil aster, v. 4. 3. A cutting instrument with a blade hook shaped toward the point, or having a concave cutting edge, used by plumbers, basket-makers, gardeners, and others. Such instruments, when used by gardeners for pruning hedges, trees, etc., are called hedge- bills or bill - hooks. See bill - hook. The shomaker must not goe aboue his latchet, nor the hedger meddle with any thing but his bil . Lyly , Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 203. bill Diagram of Bill. c, nasal fo a; d , nostril; e, com- a , upper mandible; b, culmen; mi ural point;, upper tom i- um; g , rictus; h, forehead; 1, ramus; 1, lower tomium; &, gonys; 1, lower mandible. keel. The nasal fo a is a pit, usually close to the base of the upper mandible, in which the nostrils open; a sheath at the base of the bill is the cere. The leading shapes of the bill among birds are technically expre ed by derivatives and com- pounds of rostrum (which see), as conirostral, dentiros tral, tenuirostral, fi irostral, curvirostral, pre i rostral, longirostral, cultrirostral, lamellirostral, etc.; and many other descriptive terms are equally technical in this application. The bill is hand and mouth in one; the instrument of prehension. As hand, it takes, holds, and carries food or other substances, and in many instances feels; as mouth, it tears, cuts, or crushes, according to the nature of the substances taken; a uming the functions of both lips and teeth, neither of which do any recent birds po e . Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 100. 4. A pickax; a mattock.-5. Naut .: (a) The point or extremity of the fluke of an anchor. ( b ) The end of compa or knee-timber. - Bows and bills. See bow2 . bill3 (bil), n. [ bille , a letter, writing, bille , bill a , a writing, also a seal, another form of bulla , a writing, an edict, prop. a sealed writing, a particular use of bulla , a seal, stamp, same as L. bulla , a bo , knob, stud, bubble; hence bull2 , of which bill3 is a doublet.] 1. A writing of any kind, as a will, a medical prescription, etc.; a billet. His bill In which that he iwriten had his will. Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 693. The Patient sendeth for a Physician, who feeleth his Pulse and... then prescribeth a Receipt in a Bill . Comenius , Visible World, p. 183. 21. A written petition; a prayer. And thanne come Pees into parlement and put forth a bille , How Wronge azeines his wille had his wyf taken. Piers Plowman (B), iv. 47. 3. In law, a name given to several papers in lawsuits; particularly, when used alone, to the bill in equity or bill of indictment (see below). It is a statement of complaint, and contains the fact complained of, the damage sustained, and a petition or proce against the defendant for redre . It is used both in equity and in criminal cases. In Scots law, every summary application in writing, by way of petition to the Court of Se ion, is called a bill. 4. In com., a written statement of the names, quantities, and prices of articles sold by one person to another, with the date of sale, or a statement of work done, with the amount charged; an account of money claimed for goods supplied or services rendered. Why, please, ma'am, it is only thy little bill, a very small account, I wanted thee to settle. Quoted in Lady Holland's Sydney Smith, vii. 5. An acknowledgment of debt; a promi ory note: now obsolete except as sometimes used, especially in the United States, for bank - note. See 10.-6. A bill of exchange (which see, below).-7. Any written paper containing a statement of particulars: as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a bill of fare or provisions, etc.-8. A form or draft of a proposed statute presented to a legislature, but not yet enacted or pa ed and made law. In some cases statutes are called bills , but usually they are qualified by some description: as, a bill of attainder. 9. A paper written or printed, and intended to give public notice of something, especially by being exhibited in some public place; an advertisement posted; a placard.-10. A banknote: usually with its amount: as, a five-dollar bill. [U. S.]- Accommodation bill. See accomтоdation. Appropriation bill. See appropriation. Approved bill or note. See approve 1. - Bank post-bill, a bill for a sum not le than £10 i ued by the Bank of England without charge, payable at seven days' sight and accepted at time of drawing, for convenience in remitting by post. Bills of this kind originated in 1738, when mail-robberies were frequent in England, and are not now in use. - Bill in equity, in an equity suit, the pleading in which the plaintiff sets forth the circumstances on which he bases his claim for relief. It corresponds to the complaint or declaration at common law. -Bill of adventure, a writing signed by a merchant, ship-owner, or master to show that goods shipped on board a certain ve el are at the venture of another person, he himself being answerable only for their delivery.-Bill of credit. (a) A letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant requesting him to give credit to the bearer for goods or money. (b) Paper i ued by the authority and on the faith of a State to be circulated as money. The Constitution of the United States (Art. I. § 10) provides that no State shall emit bills of credit, or make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. IMG:content-2062.png:[blocks in formation] and attorney, the jurisdiction of the courts, the impanel. ing of juries, appeals, etc. Private bill, an act of a legislature which deals with the rights of a single individual or a ociation, or of a group of individuals, as distinguish ute of 1855, vesting rights under bills of lading in the consignee or indorsee, but reserving right of stoppage in transitu and claims for freight. Similar statutes in other jurisdictions are variously known. - Bill of mortality. See mortality. Bill of parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer, containing particulars of the goods bought and of their prices; an invoice. - Bill of particulars, a writing setting forth in detail the particulars of a matter stated in a more general form in a pleading. - Bill of Rights. (a) An English statute of 1689 (1 Wm. and Mary, Se . 2, c. 2) declaring the rights and liberties of the subject, and settling the succe ion of the crown in William ter, but excluding any being Roman Catholics; it also of Orange and Mary, and to the rightful heirs of the lat provided that Protestants might have in their po e ion arms for defense suitable to their conditions. ( b) A similar statement or declaration of personal rights in the constitution of a State of the American Union, and incorporated in the amendments to the Constitution of the United States.-Bill of sale, a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of personal chattels, as household furniture, stock in a shop, shares of a ship, or the like. It is often given to a creditor in security for money borrowed, or an obligation otherwise incurred. When it expre ly empowers the receiver to sell the goods if the money is not repaid with interest at the appointed time, or the obligation not otherwise discharged, the contract is commonly called in the United States a chattel mortgage, not a bill of sale. - Bills of sale acts, a name given to several English statutes (1878, 1879, 1882, and 1883), regulating bills of sale, especially when given without trans sons of a specified cla or locality. It is regarded rather as in the nature of a judicial award or decree than as a statute or law. - To enter a bill short. See enter. - To note a bill of exchange. See note, v. t. [For other noted bills on particular subjects, such as Reform Bill, see the word characterizing the bill. For others better known by the term act, statute, etc., see those words. ] bill3 (bil), v. t. [ Parties in the United States having goods to ship to Corea may, as heretofore, have them billed to Yokohama by American or other lines and then rebilled to Corea. U. S. Cons. Rep., No. 73, p. cxii. 2. To advertise by bill or public notice; announce on a play-bill: as, he was billed to appear as Othello. bill4 (bil), n. [Var. of E. dial. beel, beal, The bittern's hollow bill was heard. Words worth, Evening Walk. billagel (bil'aj), n. [E. dial., prob. bir legia : see by - law .] A method of settling disputes about boundaries by arbitration. [Local, ferring po e ion of the property, and requiring a schedule and registration, for the prevention of fraud on creditors. - Bill of sight, a form of entry at a custom-house by Eng. (Kent).] which respecting which the has the voyage duty-free. - Bill of sufferance, a coasting license to trade from port to port without paying customs duty, the dutiable goods being loaded and landed at sufferance wharfs.-Bill payable, bill receivable, a bill of exchange, promi ory note, or other commercial paper. It is called a bill payable by the person who is to pay it, and should be put to severe work according to their ability and be separately confined when at rest, and prescribed minute regulations for their care and control. - Bland Silver Bill, a United States statute of 1878 (20 Stat., 25): Mr. Bancroft shows by a careful upturning of the colonial records that bills of credit were nothing else than Government legal-tender notes. The Century , XXXII. 160. Bill of debt, an old term including promi ory notes and bonds for the payment of money. - Bill of entry, a writ ten account of goods entered at the custom-house, whether imported or intended for export. - Bill of exceptions. See exception . - Bill of exchange, an order in writing, addre ed by one person to another, to pay on demand or at a fixed or determinable future time a certain sum in money to a specified person or to his order. Every completed bill of exchange should bear on its face the following: (a) three names, namely, those of the drawer, the drawee, and the payee; (b) the sum to be paid; (c) two dates, namely, the date of drawing and a time for payment or the means of determining the time, as where the bill is payable at sight or a certain time after sight, that is, presentment; (d) the place where it is drawn. If the drawer and drawee are the same person, even in legal effect of name, as where a corporation by one officer draws on itself by naming another officer, as such, as the payee, the paper is not a bill of exchange, but a mere draft or promi ory note. The drawer and the payee, however, may be the same, as where one draws to his own order and indorses to a third person. If the paper is not payable absolutely, as where it is expre ed to be payable only out of a particular fund, it is not a bill of exchange; but a payment absolutely ordered may be directed to be charged to a particular account of the drawer. The words "value received" are usually inserted, but are not e ential to validity. The drawee of a bit becomes liable by accepting it, usually done by writing his name acro its face, and he is thereafter called the accepter ; but a bill is negotiable before acceptance. In a foreign bill of exchange, the drawer and drawee are residents of differ ent countries. In this respect, in the United States, the residents of the different States are foreign to one another. -Bills of exchange acts, a short name by which are known several British statutes (1871, 1878, and 1882), the last of which codifies the whole body of British law relating to negotiable paper. - Bill of fare, in a hotel or restaurant, a list of dishes to be served in due course at a regular meal, or which may be ordered. -Bill of health, a certificate signed by a consul or other authority as to the health of a ship's company at the time of her clearing any port or place. A clean bill imports that the ship sailed at a time when no infectious disorder was supposed to exist; a suspected or touched bill imports that there were rumors of such a disorder, but that it had not appeared; a foul bill, or the absence of a clean bill, imports that the place of departure was infected when the ve el left. Bill of indictment. See indictment . - Bill of lading, a receipt for goods delivered to a carrier for transportation. It is usually of goods shipped on board of a ve el and signed by the master of the ve el, acknowledging the receipt of the goods, and usually promising to deliver them in good condition at the place di so called from its author, Richard P. Bland, a member of the House from Mi ouri. It reëstablished the silver dollar containing 4124 grains troy of standard silver as a legal tender; but its special feature was a clause requiring the Treasury to purchase every month not le than two million nor more than four million dollars' worth of silver bullion and to coin it into dollars. - Boston Port Bill, an English statute of 1774 (14 Geo. III., c. 19) incited by the destruction of tea in Boston harbor. It closed the port of Boston to trade, allowing the admi ion only of food and fuel brought from other parts of America. - Creditor's bill. See creditor . - Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, a bill repeatedly introduced into the British Parliament to abrogate the rule of English law which forbids a widower to marry the sister of his deceased wife. In the summer of 1896 it pa ed its third reading in the House of Lords. Deficiency bill (a) A short loan or advance made to the British government by the Bank of England whenever the taxes received are insufficient to pay the dividends due on government stocks. (b) A legislative bill appropriating an amount of money required to make up a deficiency. Exchequer bill See exchequer . - General Deficiency Bill, the name of that one of the appropriation bills pa ed by Congre which covers the deficiencies of previous appropriation bills. - Home-Rule Bill. (a) A bill introduced into the British Parliament by Mr. Gladstone, in 1886, to provide a separate parliament for Ireland. It was defeated in its second reading, June 7, 1886. (b) A similar bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone on Feb. 13, 1893, and defeated in the House of Lords on Sept. 8. - Jew Bill, an English statute of 1753 (repealed in 1754) enabling Jewswho were foreigners to be naturalized without first partaking of the sacrament. - Kansas-Nebraska Bill, an act of the United States Congre of 1854 for the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It abrogated that provision of the Mi ouri compromise of 1820 which forbade slavery north of latitude 36° 30′ (the southern boundary of Mi ouri), left the decision of all questions as to slavery in the Territories or States formed from them to the rep resentatives of the people residing there, extended the fugitive-slave law to these Territories, and allowed appeal in cases affecting the title to slaves from the local courts to the United States Supreme Court. The political consequences of the bill were most important, causing the destruction of the Whig party and the struggle between the proslavery and antislavery parties for the control of the Territories, which culminated in the war of sece ion and the total abolition of slavery. - Original bill in equity, in law , a bill of complaint originating a litigation; one not connected with a previous bill, as distinguished from one growing out of a matter before litigated in the court by the same person standing in the same interests. - Pend let on Bill, a United States statute of 1883 (22 Stat., 403) regulating and improving the civil service: so called after its promoter, Senator George H. Pend let on of Ohio. It provides for the competitive examination of applicants for office, and their appointment to vacancies according to their grade as established by the examining commi ion. - Poland Bill, a United States statute of 1874 (18 Stat., 253), so called after its author, Luke P. Poland, a member of the House of Representatives from Vermont, the design of which was to render effective the authority of the officers and courts of the United States in the Territory of Utah, by prescribing the duties of the United States marshal abaft the cathead, for the bill of the anchor to rest on. See anchor- lining. bill-board2 (bil'bōrd), n. [ bill3 + board .] A board or tablet on which advertising bills or placards may be posted. bill-book (bil'bük), n. 2 1, Bill-board; 2, Bill-port. A book in which a merchant keeps a record of the details of his bills of exchange, promi ory notes, etc., payable and receivable. bill-broker (bil'brō"ker), n. One whose busine it is to negotiate the discount of bills of exchange, either simply as agent or by buying and selling again, with or without a guaranty. [British.]