hook-bill
[See bill n.1 and n.2]
1. A bill with a hook; a billhook.
| 1613 T. Campion Entertainm. Ld. Knowles Wks. (Bullen) 178 One of them in his hand bearing a hook-bill. |
2. ‘The curved beak of a bird’ (Ogilvie). Cf. hook-nose.
3. ‘A spent male salmon whose jaws have become hooked’ (Cent. Dict.).
So ˈhook-billed a., having a curved bill.
| 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3080/4 Hookbil'd Ducks. 1785 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds III. 495 Hook-billed Duck, Raii Syn. p. 150.2. 1881 Amer. Naturalist XV. 182 The male [of hump-back salmon] is slab-sided, hook-billed and distorted. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 219 Among the breeds differing in structure may be mentioned..the hook-billed and tufted ducks. |