crowbill

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

crowbill

/ˈkɹəʊbɪl/ UK
/ˈkɹoʊˌbɪl/ US

Where it comes from

From crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”) + bill (“beak of a bird”). Sense 1 (“kind of forceps”) is probably from its appearance, while sense 2 (“type of poleaxe”) is a calque of French bec de corbin (literally “crow or raven's beak”).

noun crowbills · crow-bill

A kind of forceps for extracting bullets, etc., from wounds.
Similar: crow's bill
historical Synonym of bec de corbin (“poleaxe with a modified hammerhead and a spike mounted on the top of the pole”).
Similar: bec de corbin

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"crowbill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/crowbill. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

crowbill. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/crowbill

Chicago

"crowbill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/crowbill.

BibTeX

@misc{crowbill_2026,
  title = {crowbill},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/crowbill},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}