sparrow-billn.
= sparable n.The application in quot. 1845 is irregular, a sparrow-bill being properly distinct from a brad, and having no projection.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > equipment or materials for > equipment > nail for fastening parts of
shoe-nailc725
sparablea1627
sparrow-bill1629
boot-naila1661
peg1714
shoe pin1714
shoe peg1854
shoe-bill1861
1629 T. Dekker Londons Tempe 184 Hob-nailes to serue the Man ith Moone, And Sparrow-bils to cloute Pan's shoone.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 300/1 Sparrow Bills, Nails to clout Shooes withal.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Sparables or Sparrow-Bills, a sort of small Iron nails, which some Country-People wear in their Shooes.
1845 P. Barlow Manuf. in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 671/1 The kind of brads called sparrow-bills, (which have a small projection from one side of their heads).
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 12/1 Those small tacks called sparrowbills, which are much used by shoemakers.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations.
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1859 G. A. Sala Gaslight & Daylight xxxiii. 387 White drawers and stockings, flaring waist-handkerchiefs and sparrow-bill shoes.
?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 91 Sparrow-bill Cutter, Maker.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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