Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BILL, n.³ The bar or beam of a harrow that bears the teeth. Eng. bull with same meaning dates from 1523 (see N.E.D.).Rxb. 1798 R. Douglas Gen. View Agric. Rxb. 55 Note:
The late Sir David Kinloch shewed me a pair [of harrows], with the teeth in eight plates or rods of iron, each of which plates was very little shorter than the wooden bar, commonly here called a bull or bill, sunk into the bottom or lower part of it, and firmly bound to it by iron girds or hoops. [Obs. now replaced by bull according to Watson Rxb. W.-B. (1923).]