twibill
English
![](../I/m/Hurdle_maker's_twybill.jpg)
Hurdle maker's twybill
![](../I/m/Dobbelthakke_fra_Bergheim_i_Bjugn_(19885902401).jpg)
Stone twibill several millennia old
![](../I/m/Gymnasium_scene_Petit_Palais_ADUT00337.jpg)
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)
- An axe with two cutting blades.
- A mattock.
- 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).
- (obsolete) A double-bladed halberd or battle-axe.
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