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”), probably from German Beil or Dutch bijl (“axe”), 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
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