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hawk's-bill
1. (Also hawk's-bill turtle.) A species of turtle, Chelone imbricata, having a mouth resembling the beak of a hawk, inhabiting the Indian Ocean and the warmer parts of the Atlantic, and furnishing the tortoiseshell of commerce. Also hawkbill.
1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 4 The Loggerhead Turtle, and the Hawks bill Turtle, of which sorts, the latter is the best. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 103 The Hawksbill Turtle is the least kind; they are so called because their mouths [resemble] the Bill of a Hawk: On the backs of these Hawksbill Turtle grows that Shell which is so much esteem'd for making Cabinets, Combs [etc.]. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 20 There is Plenty of Tortoises, or Turtle, but not very good to eat, being a sort of Hawksbill. 1892Chamb. Jrnl. 14 May 318/2 The thirteen plates of tortoise⁓shell on the carapace of the hawk's-bill tortoise.
2. Part of the striking action of a clock.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Hawk's bill, a catch-piece attached to a vibrating arm, which acts as a detent in the rack of the striking part of a clock, and assists in effecting the proper number of strokes.
3. (See quot.)
1708Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 Gryphites, the Hawk's Bill, or Ague-shell. |