Talk:Bill (weapon)

Richard III

Surely there should be a mention here about him as he may have been killed by a bill - the leading expert seems to consider this a possibility: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history%20%26%20heritage/war%20%26%20conflict/pre-20th%20century%20conflict/art418695 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.190.194.228 (talk) 21:07, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Current lead picture

Is the picture currently used in the lead actually a bill? Because it looks much more like a modern brush axe. — Bardbom (talk) 09:52, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Same thing, different language - brush axe is the US name for what would be called a bill or billhook in England.

82.1.7.158 (talk) 18:12, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Bill-guisarme

Is there any historical or scholarly usage of the specific term "bill-guisarme"? The phrase appears to originate in fantasy roleplaying games. -gtrmp (talk) 21:49, 14 July 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 12 March 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. No support for the move. No consensus on "Bill (polearm)". (non-admin closure) ⹃Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley$\lor$investigateᛅ} 09:17, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

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Bill (weapon) → Billhook (Weapon) – It's distinct enough and also vastly more popular than the bill. It was the equal of the halberd in popularity at the time. (Talk) PHLOGISTON ENTHUSIAST 15:23, 12 March 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Bobby Cohn 🍁 (talk) 16:43, 19 March 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 04:35, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

• It isn't a proper noun so if moved it should be Billhook (weapon). Crouch, Swale (talk) 20:21, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

  Alright. Also, why is the first image so ungodly blurry? (Talk) PHLOGISTON ENTHUSIAST 13:41, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. Unlike the tool, the weapon was commonly known as a bill, not a billhook. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:35, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

  But it is most commonly in the modern day reffered to as a billhook. (Talk) PHLOGISTON ENTHUSIAST 17:49, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

  Not as far as I know it isn't. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:51, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

• The uppercase for "Weapon" makes no sense. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 19:00, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Military history has been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 04:37, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose As previously said, bill is the common name for the weapon, whereas billhook is more associated with the agricultural implement. It should perhaps be noted, as shown in the article, that bills are a family of weapons with varying degrees of similarity to the agricultural billhook, so sticking with the common name seems less confusing. Monstrelet (talk) 12:22, 27 March 2026 (UTC)
• Comment: Note there is also RBS 56 BILL - which is also a weapon. Although formally we may not need to disambiguate between the subject of this article and the missile, it may be helpful to the reader to take this into account.Nigel Ish (talk) 12:46, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

Presumably, a "Not to be confused with" hatnote would suffice? Alternatively, a change to Bill (polearm) would remove any confusion. Monstrelet (talk) 15:46, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

I agree with this. (Talk) PHLOGISTON ENTHUSIAST 16:16, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.