/ · 1894 Brewer’s · B · Bill (The)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The nose, also called the beak. Hence, “Billy” is slang for a pocket-handkerchief.
“Lastly came Winter, clothed all in frize,
Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill;
Whilst on his hoary beard his breath did freeze;
And the dull drops that from his purple bill [nose],
As from a limbeck, did adown distill.”
Spenser: Faërie Quecene, canto vii.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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