Standard Lemma guide

crowbill

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɹəʊbɪl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈkɹoʊˌbɪl/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A kind of forceps for extracting bullets, etc., from wounds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences, surgery

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crow's bill

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Synonym of bec de corbin (“poleaxe with a modified hammerhead and a spike mounted on the top of the pole”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

Topics: engineering, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bec de corbin

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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”).

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: kärkipihdit — kind of forceps for extracting bullets, etc., from wounds