bill vs scratch

bill

noun
  • A piece of paper money; a banknote. 

  • A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document; a bill of exchange. In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note. 

  • The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal. 

  • Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes. 

  • A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.) 

  • A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.) 

  • The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak). 

  • A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. 

  • The bell, or boom, of the bittern. 

  • A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; an invoice. 

  • Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff. 

  • One hundred dollars. 

  • A pickaxe, or mattock. 

  • A beak-like projection, especially a promontory. 

  • A set of items presented together. 

  • Somebody armed with a bill; a billman. 

  • A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law. 

  • A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods 

verb
  • To dig, chop, etc., with a bill. 

  • To advertise by a bill or public notice. 

  • To charge; to send a bill to. 

  • to stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness 

scratch

noun
  • Money. 

  • An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation. 

  • A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens. 

  • A horse withdrawn from a race prior to the start. 

  • Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy. 

  • A scratch wig. 

  • A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi. 

  • A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark. 

  • A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing. 

  • Scrawled or illegible handwriting; chicken scratch. 

  • The last riders to depart in a handicap race. 

  • A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching. 

  • A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table. 

  • An injury. 

adj
  • Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation 

  • For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work. 

  • Relating to a scratchpad, a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use. 

  • (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability. 

verb
  • To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc. 

  • to get such scratches 

  • To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun). 

  • To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching). 

  • To irritate someone's skin with one's unshaven beard when kissing. 

  • To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching. 

  • To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table. 

  • To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl. 

  • To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page. 

  • To dig or excavate with the claws. 

  • To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure. 

  • To announce one's non-participation in a race or sports event part of a larger sports meeting that they were previously signed up for, usually in lieu of another event at the same meeting. 

  • Hence, to remove, ignore, or delete. 

How often have the words bill and scratch occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )