twibill

English

Hurdle maker's twybill

Stone twibill several millennia old

Gymnasium scene about 490 BCE, showing mattock used for loosening soil in the jumping pit

Alternative forms

• trybill
• twilbil
• twybil
• twyvil

Etymology

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

Noun

twibill (plural twibills)

1. An axe with two cutting blades.
2. A mattock.
3. A double-bladed tool used in gate-type hurdle-making for cutting out mortices, with a flat chisel and a mortice chisel or hook, similar to the much larger French carpenter's tool, the besaiguë (or bisaiguë).
4. (obsolete) A double-bladed halberd or battle-axe.

Further reading

• twybil on Wikipedia.Wikipedia