Bill

A diminutive of the male given name William.

Proper noun

  1. A diminutive of the male given name William.
    • "My other name's Bill," he said. "I was christened Bill but Mr Thursgood calls me William." / "Bill, eh. The unpaid Bill. Anyone ever call you that?" / "No, sir." / "Good name, anyway." / "Yes, sir." / "Known a lot of...
    • One of his neighbours opposite, a nice old guy with a stoop and a horrible little Yorkshire terrier, called him Bill - always had done and presumably always would, right up till the day he died. It actually irritated...
    • Her tone shift involved former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lampooning their fellow ex-president as a figure of ridicule. Then Harris closed the trap with a line in her convention speech: “Trump is an...
  2. A diminutive of the male given name Bilal.
    • Bill Essayli, Trump’s pick in April to temporarily lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, should have departed the post by July 31 under a 120-day limit imposed by federal law, U.S....
  3. A surname.
  4. A nickname for the British constabulary. Often called "The Bill" or "Old Bill"

Origin

Hypocorism of William. It is unclear how the initial W became a B; this could have been part of the medieval trend of swapping letters, similar to Dick for Rick.

Forms

Bills

Related

Will

Derived

Bill Wigglestick Bill Williams River Billary Billy