Naut. Also 7–8 -bell.
In the phrase a-cock-bill [f. A-COCK advb. phrase + BILL]: having the bills or tapering ends cocked or turned upwards. Said of the anchor when it hangs from the cathead ready for dropping; also of the yards of a vessel, when they are placed at an angle with the deck—‘the symbol of mourning’ (Smyth).
1648. Earl Westmoreland, Otia Sacra (1879), 164. The Others all a Cock-bell set, One after other down are let Into the Sea.
1692. in Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., I. xvi. 74. The Anchor is a Cock-bell, that is, hangs up and down by the Ships side.
1769. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 113/2. The collier was going down full sail, on the flood tide, and anchor a cock bill.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xvii. 48. On Good Friday she had all her yards a’-cock-bill, which is customary among Catholic vessels.
b. Shortened to cock-bill.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 164. The anchor is cockbill.
