Bill (The)

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.

· ·

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Linking here: