Bill \Bill\, n. [OE. bile, bille, AS. bile beak of a bird, proboscis; cf. Ir. & Gael. bil, bile, mouth, lip, bird's bill. Cf. {Bill} a weapon.] A beak, as of a bird, or sometimes of a turtle or other animal. --Milton.
Bill \Bill\, v. t. To work upon ( as to dig, hoe, hack, or chop anything) with a bill.
Bill \Bill\, n. [OE. bill, bille, fr. LL. billa (or OF. bille), for L. bulla anything rounded, LL., seal, stamp, letter, edict, roll; cf. F. bille a ball, prob. fr. Ger.; cf. MHG. bickel, D. bikkel, dice. Cf. {Bull} papal edict, {Billet} a paper.] 1. (Law) 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.
2. A writing binding 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. [Eng.]
Note: In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
3. A form or draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
4. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods; a placard; a poster; a handbill.
She put up the bill in her parlor window. --Dickens.
5. An account of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; a statement of a creditor's claim, in gross or by items; as, a grocer's bill.
6. Any paper, containing a statement of particulars; as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a weekly bill of mortality; a bill of fare, etc.
{Bill of adventure}. See under {Adventure}.
{Bill of costs}, a statement of the items which form the total amount of the costs of a party to a suit or action.
{Bill of credit}. (a) Within the constitution of the United States, a paper issued by a State, on the mere faith and credit of the State, and designed to circulate as money. No State shall ``emit bills of credit.'' --U. S. Const. --Peters. --Wharton. --Bouvier (b) Among merchants, a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit to the bearer for goods or money.
{Bill of divorce}, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. --Jer. iii. 8.
{Bill of entry}, a written account of goods entered at the customhouse, whether imported or intended for exportation.
{Bill of exceptions}. See under {Exception}.
{Bill of exchange} (Com.), a written order or request from one person or house to another, desiring the latter to pay to some person designated a certain sum of money therein generally is, and, to be negotiable, must be, made payable to order or to bearer. So also the order generally expresses a specified time of payment, and that it is drawn for value. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer, the person on whom it is drawn is, before acceptance, called the drawee, -- after acceptance, the acceptor; the person to whom the money is directed to be paid is called the payee. The person making the order may himself be the payee. The bill itself is frequently called a draft. See {Exchange}. --Chitty.
{Bill of fare}, a written or printed enumeration of the dishes served at a public table, or of the dishes (with prices annexed) which may be ordered at a restaurant, etc.
{Bill of health}, a certificate from the proper authorities as to the state of health of a ship's company at the time of her leaving port.
{Bill of indictment}, a written accusation lawfully presented to a grand jury. If the jury consider the evidence sufficient to support the accusation, they indorse it ``A true bill,'' otherwise they write upon it ``Not a true bill,'' or ``Not found,'' or ``Ignoramus'', or ``Ignored.''
{Bill of lading}, a written account of goods shipped by any person, signed by the agent of the owner of the vessel, or by its master, acknowledging the receipt of the goods, and promising to deliver them safe at the place directed, dangers of the sea excepted. It is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods.
{Bill of mortality}, an official statement of the number of deaths in a place or district within a given time; also, a district required to be covered by such statement; as, a place within the bills of mortality of London.
{Bill of pains and penalties}, a special act of a legislature which inflicts a punishment less than death upon persons supposed to be guilty of treason or felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. --Bouvier. --Wharton.
{Bill of parcels}, an account given by the seller to the buyer of the several articles purchased, with the price of each.
{Bill of particulars} (Law), a detailed statement of the items of a plaintiff's demand in an action, or of the defendant's set-off.
{Bill of rights}, a summary of rights and privileges claimed by a people. Such was the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons of England to the Prince and Princess of Orange in 1688, and enacted in Parliament after they became king and queen. In America, a bill or declaration of rights is prefixed to most of the constitutions of the several States.
{Bill of sale}, a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of goods and chattels.
{Bill of sight}, a form of entry at the customhouse, by which goods, respecting which the importer is not possessed of full information, may be provisionally landed for examination.
{Bill of store}, a license granted at the customhouse to merchants, to carry such stores and provisions as are necessary for a voyage, custom free. --Wharton.
{Bills payable} (pl.), the outstanding unpaid notes or acceptances made and issued by an individual or firm.
{Bills receivable} (pl.), the unpaid promissory notes or acceptances held by an individual or firm. --McElrath.
{A true bill}, a bill of indictment sanctioned by a grand jury.
Bill \Bill\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Billed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Billing}.] 1. To strike; to peck. [Obs.]
2. To join bills, as doves; to caress in fondness. ``As pigeons bill.'' --Shak.
{To bill and coo}, to interchange caresses; -- said of doves; also of demonstrative lovers. --Thackeray.
Bill \Bill\, n. The bell, or boom, of the bittern
The bittern's hollow bill was heard. --Wordsworth.
Bill \Bill\, n. [OE. bil, AS. bill, bil; akin to OS. bil sword, OHG. bill pickax, G. bille. Cf. {Bill} bea?.] 1. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle; -- used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. When short, called a hand bill, when long, a hedge bill.
2. A weapon of infantry, in the 14th and 15th centuries. A common form of bill consisted of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, having a short pike at the back and another at the top, and attached to the end of a long staff.
France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows end bills. --Macaulay.
3. One who wields a bill; a billman. --Strype.
4. A pickax, or mattock. [Obs.]
5. (Naut.) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke.
Bill \Bill\, v. t. 1. To advertise by a bill or public notice.
2. To charge or enter in a bill; as, to bill goods.
Guenther Dahloff, an economic official of the West German Embassy, rose to say Mr. McPherson's concerns were just "a mirror image" of European concerns about U.S. trade policy, especially the huge new trade bill passed Wednesday.
Congress defied the political odds to pass a fundamental tax-overhaul bill.
And our bill would make Congress come clean with the American taxpayer as to the real cost of punitive trade legislation.
It is just as important that any new DG can stand up to bullying from the likes of Mick Newmarch, the Pru's rumbustious boss, as from the Office of Fair Trading. Hard to imagine who would fit the bill given the ABI's current structure.
The panel also killed a bill that would have required the sale of guns from one private owner to another be reported to state police, and one that would have increased penalties for people caught carrying guns without permits.
Vento said he hoped to move the bill, which has six Democratic co-sponsors, before Congress adjourns next month.
Metzenbaum's bill would repeal the insurance industry's antitrust exemption but allow states to continue individually to regulate insurance.
Banks opposed the bill because of a provision that would have barred them from selling insurance nationwide.
The bill passed the lower house of the Diet earlier this month, but the ruling Liberal Demoratic Party lacks a majority in the upper house and couldn't enlist sufficient opposition support for the measure.
Now it's the Congress' fault."' Despite officials' claims that the bill must pass, there hasn't been much lobbying by top administration officials, noted Sen. Donald W. Riegle, D-Mich.
Solidarity member of Parliament Aleksander Malachowski, a writer and television personality, said Solidarity's first act tomorrow when Parliament resumes sitting, would be to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty.
Here are some other stands taken by Quayle: _Against a bill elevating the Veterans Administration to the president's Cabinet.
Unusually, he took a leading role in seeking to secure more generous tax treatment for the industry during the final stages of the finance bill.
With time running out for legislative action in the election season, the bill's chances of becoming law are cloudy.
As a bonus, the administration's bill would negate the anti-competitive effects of the so-called "exclusivity clause" of the commodities laws.
A bankruptcy judge refused to approve $3 million the professionals requested, including $1,200-an-hour in-office strategy sessions, a $275 bill for dinner for two and hundreds of thousands of dollars in overhead costs.
It was added to a bill requiring large companies to offer at least 10 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to employees with medical crises or new babies.
The panel fashions the Justice Department's money bill.
The bill unveiled Thursday requires the whipping post in addition to jail time for anyone convicted of dealing hard drugs or involving children in the drug world.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Pro-choice legislators want to try again to overturn an unenforced, century-old law making abortion a crime. Gov. Judd Gregg vetoed a similar bill this year.
"All of us realize the more revenue we have in this bill, the less likely the president is to sign it," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., manager of the Senate tax measure.
An omnibus veterans bill that included the cost-of-living increase died in the last Congress because of a dispute over benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
The draft bills specifically focus on one of the administration bill's key proposalsgranting oversight of futures margins to a federal agency.
"A lot of people will be coming up with a variety of ideas" for altering the tax bill if the economy goes bad, says Sen. John Danforth (R., Mo.).
The warning is part of action by the industry against a bill, C-91, introduced in parliament in Ottawa this week.
The bill also would gradually take back from the well-to-do the tax saving realized from personal exemptions.
The bill also frees up an estimated $363 million in prior appropriations for the State Department, including U.S. contributions to the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
Although the bill does not specifically address the cost of Operation Desert Shield, expected to total $15 billion in fiscal 1991, sea lifts and projects such as the M-1 tank are key to the U.S. buildup in the gulf.
The 100th Congress, ending a productive two-year run with an early morning flurry of legislative action, sent President Reagan a compromise bill providing new weapons to fight the war on drugs.
Hungarian officials fear that the Soviets may stop withdrawing troops until they pay a huge bill Moscow has presented.