stork's bill
[Cf. G. storchschnabel (schnabel beak, bill), OS. storkesnevel (in sense 1).]
1. A book-name for a plant of the genus Erodium (N.O. Geraniaceæ), esp. E. cicutarium or E. moschatum. † Also in corrupt forms stocks-bill (Ray N.C. Words, 1691), stockbill (Withering Brit. Pl., ed. 3, 1796, III. 608).
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 9 This kynde [of Geranium] is called in Englishe Pinke nedle or starkis [sic] byll. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccxliii. 795 Of knobbed Cranes bill..it is also called..in English Storks bill. Ibid. cccxliv. 796 Musked Storkes bill. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. i. xv. 94 Bees gather of these flowers following..In May:..Storks-bill, Mous-ear, [etc.]. 1825 Sir J. E. Smith Eng. Flora III. 229 Erodium. Stork's-bill. Ibid., E. cicutarium. Hemlock Stork's-bill. Ibid. 230 E. moschatum. Musky Storks'-bill. Ibid. 231 E. maritimum. Sea Stork's-bill. 1898 C. M. Yonge John Keble's Parishes xiv. 162 On the road-side have sprung up..the Stork's bill, Erodium moschatum. |
| attrib. 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 101/2 Erodium ciconium (stork-bill geranium). |
2. A plant of the genus
Pelargonium (N.O.
Geraniaceæ).
| 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 65 Pelargonium Barringtonii, a splendid flower..considered the first of storksbills. 1829 T. Castle Introd. Bot. 146 One extensive genus, called pelargonium or stork's-bill, upwards of one hundred and fifty species of which are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 1848 Schomburgk Hist. Barbados 602 Pelargonium humifusum. Trailing Stork's Bill. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1102/1. |
† 3. Surg. = crow-bill 2.
Obs. rare.
| 1671 Phillips (ed. 3), Storks bill, a Chirurgions Instrument, the same as Crows bill which see. |
† 4. A derisive gesture:
= L.
ciconia.
Obs.| 1616 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. ii, You giue him the Reuerse stroke, with this Sanna, or Storkes-bill. |