Bilbo ...One definition I read in an old Funk and Wagnells said that this is a frame of wood to hold a cow's head in place while milking...I never heard a farmer talk about a bilbo before have you?

When I read your post, I said to myself, "Aha! That's got to be a word we have not yet covered in The OEDILF!" Finding words of this nature is a bit of a challenge but in checking to confirm this was a new word for us, I was disappointed (but not particularly surprised) to see that we already had it covered three times:

The bank? He attempted to rob it.
The bomb? He attempted to lob it.
Now Baggins's ankles
Are shackled, which rankles—
A bilbo's attached to this hobbit.

A bilbo is an iron bar attached to the ground, to which prisoners are shackled by their (hairy) ankles. For the sequel, in which Baggins escapes and slays his pursuer Beauregard, see bilbo.

Tim Alborn

The last line of the Author's Note refers to Tim's second "bilbo" piece:

When Baggins escaped from the jail,
With Beauregard hot on his tail,
The hobbit, to kill Beau,
Drew Sting, his new bilbo,
Which sundered poor Beauregard's mail.

This time around, bilbo means a tempered sword, often used by swashbucklers in nineteenth-century novels. Calling Sting (really a large knife, suitable for hobbits) a bilbo is probably stretching it a bit.

Tim Alborn

And last up, an interesting piece contrasting bilbo with bimbo:

The bilbos were swords used by swordsmen
Who fought for their leiges (the lord's men),
While bimbos are gals
Guys solicit as pals,
As they're prone to be liberal towards men.

Bilbo (perhaps dervied from Balboa, in Spain), is an archaic word for a sword with a hard, flexible blade. Bimbos may also be flexible, but tend to be softer, and are prone (and often supine) to be sexual rather than military creatures.

SheilaB

If there are any other words beginning with the letters aa- through bn- (our range so far) that you're curious about, feel free to check us out at oedilf.com.

Tolkien was a philologist, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was some meaning of bilbo which corresponded to the Hobbit.

quote:

I never heard a farmer talk about a bilbo before have you?

Goofball, I looked it up in Dictionary.com, Onelook and the online OED, but I wasn't able to find your definition of it. I will ask my dad who used to be a dairy farmer.

I'd think someone could have come up with a limerick for "bilbo" that rhymes with "dildo."

The place in Spain is the Basque Bilbo, known in Spanish (and English) as Bilbao. I don't think this has anything to do with the explorer Balboa: the a ~ i interchange is not reasonable in Basque.

I think Tolkien just liked funny words, especially back in the early days when he was writing The Hobbit and didn't have to worry so much about linguistic consistency. Actually I vaguely recall Bilbo was originally to be called Bungo.

Silly Kalleh! BilBo and DilDo don't rhyme!

Aput mentions the city of Bilboa. It is a major city. The sword known as a bilbo was made there, and was named for the city.

Bilbo meaning "an iron bar to which sliding fetters are attached" is a separate word, of unknown origin.

quote:

Silly Kalleh! BilBo and DilDo don't rhyme!

Tim, it is so good to see you here for a change!

Yeah, I know. I thought I could get away with it on Wordcraft...though, there's not a chance I'd get away with it on OEDILF!

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:

quote:

Silly Kalleh! BilBo and DilDo don't rhyme!

Tim, it is so good to see you here for a change!

Yeah, I know. I thought I could get away with it on Wordcraft...though, there's not a chance I'd get away with it on OEDILF!

Actually, I, for one, would be in your corner were you to rhyme "bilbo" and "dildo," assuming the limerick were tastefully done and no other problems presented themselves.

A strict reading of what constitutes a rhyme is that the last stressed syllable of the words in question must have the same vowel sound preceded by differing consonant sounds and, in the case of words with one or more unstressed syllables following this stressed one, everything coming after the stressed syllable must be identical. By this definition, no, "bilbo/dildo" don't make it.

A slightly more liberal take on it has an identical definition but says everything coming after the stressed syllable must rhyme as well. By this definition, "bilbo/dildo" squeeks by. We have more than a few of these in The OEDILF and they're almost always guaranteed to spark a lively discussion (AKA "fight") wherever they appear, but I'm all for them if they're done well.

Now, those two particular words in the same limerick would be a challenge in regards to taste and propriety, but that's another matter.

quote:

Actually, I, for one, would be in your corner were you to rhyme "bilbo" and "dildo," assuming the limerick were tastefully done and no other problems presented themselves.

I have had some of those rather "iffy" rhymes, as I love fun rhymes. It depends on who workshops your limerick, really. There are some who never would approve it, but others who might. Of my limericks, my favorite one rhymes "him t' live" with "primitive," and it got approved, though the rhyme isn't perfect. However, it was approved when we apparently only needed 2 RFAs (I don't even remember that time!) and when things were a bit simpler over there.

quote:

Now, those two particular words in the same limerick would be a challenge in regards to taste and propriety, but that's another matter.

Oh...I have thought of a few, but the 'taste and propriety' don't hold up.

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Back to the frame of wood holding a cow's head...is that related to a stanchion in any way?

A stanchion is a support, so it could be.

As my poor dad is recovering from surgery, I asked him about the word "bilbo." He had worked as a dairy farmer for a number of years. He hasn't heard of the word.

I had always called them "stanchells" when I was a child, and I thought it was just a childhood mistake. However, in talking to my father, he said many farmers called them "stanchells," and he thinks that over the years, at least in Wisconsin, the word changed.

The OED says stanchell (stanshel, stenchall, -el, dial. stanchil, staneshel, stanchel) = stanchion: The vertical bars of a stall for cattle (1875).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary also says a stanchel is a stanchion, and gives a further definition: "A vertical bar for confining cattle in a stall."

The AHD gives this definition of the noun stanchion: "A framework consisting of two or more vertical bars, used to secure cattle in a stall or at a feed trough," and the verb stanchion: "To confine (cattle) by means of stanchions."

The closest definition of bilbo I could find was, "A long iron bar, furnished with sliding shackles to confine the ankles of prisoners, and a lock by which to fix one end of the bar to the floor or ground" (OED). The AHD gives a similar definintion. A bilbo is also a sword. The sword meaning is from Bilbao, a Spanish town where swords were made (1598). The other etymology of the other definition is unknown, but the OED records the first written use of the word in this sense as 1557.

Tinman

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