fill the bill

noun

a statement of money owed for goods or services supplied: He paid the hotel bill when he checked out.

a piece of paper money worth a specified amount: a ten-dollar bill.

Government. a form or draft of a proposed statute presented to a legislature, but not yet enacted or passed and made law.

bill of exchange.

a written or printed public notice or advertisement.

any written paper containing a statement of particulars: a bill of expenditures.

Law. a written statement, usually of complaint, presented to a court.

Slang. one hundred dollars: The job pays five bills a week.

playbill.

10.

entertainment scheduled for presentation; program: a good bill at the movies.

11.

Obsolete.

a promissory note.

a written and sealed document.

a written, formal petition.

verb (used with object)

12.

to charge for by bill; send a bill to: The store will bill me.

13.

to enter (charges) in a bill; make a bill or list of: to bill goods.

14.

to advertise by bill or public notice: A new actor was billed for this week.

15.

to schedule on a program: The management billed the play for two weeks.

00:10

Fill the bill is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Idioms

16.

fill the bill, to fulfill the purpose or need well: As a sprightly situation comedy this show fills the bill.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English bille < Anglo-French < Anglo-Latin billa for Late Latin bulla bull²

Related forms

bill·er, noun

Synonyms
1. reckoning, invoice, statement. 5. bulletin, handbill, poster, placard, announcement, circular, throwaway, flyer, broadside.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To fill the bill

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World English Dictionary

bill¹ (bɪl)

—n
1.	money owed for goods or services supplied: an electricity bill
2.	a written or printed account or statement of money owed
3.	chiefly (Brit) Usual US and Canadian word: check such an account for food and drink in a restaurant, hotel, etc
4.	any printed or written list of items, events, etc, such as a theatre programme: who's on the bill tonight?
5.	informal fit the bill, fill the bill to serve or perform adequately
6.	a statute in draft, before it becomes law
7.	a printed notice or advertisement; poster
8.	(US), (Canadian) a piece of paper money; note
9.	an obsolete name for promissory note
10.	law See bill of indictment
11.	See bill of exchange
12.	See bill of fare
13.	archaic any document

—vb
14.	to send or present an account for payment to (a person)
15.	to enter (items, goods, etc) on an account or statement
16.	to advertise by posters
17.	to schedule as a future programme: the play is billed for next week

[C14: from Anglo-Latin billa, alteration of Late Latin bulla document, bull³]

bill² (bɪl)

—n
1.	the mouthpart of a bird, consisting of projecting jaws covered with a horny sheath; beak. It varies in shape and size according to the type of food eaten and may also be used as a weapon
2.	any beaklike mouthpart in other animals
3.	a narrow promontory: Portland Bill
4.	nautical the pointed tip of the fluke of an anchor

—vb
5.	(of birds, esp doves) to touch bills together
6.	(of lovers) to kiss and whisper amorously

[Old English bile; related to billbill³]

bill³ (bɪl)

—n
1.	a pike or halberd with a narrow hooked blade
2.	short for billhook

[Old English bill sword, related to Old Norse bīldr instrument used in blood-letting, Old High German bil pickaxe]

bill⁴ (bɪl)

—n
	ornithol another word for boom

[C18: from dialect beelbell² (vb)]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bill

"written statement," mid-14c., from Anglo-L. billa "list," from M.L. bulla "decree, seal, sealed document," in classical L. "bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck" (hence "seal;" see bull (2)). Sense of "account, invoice" first recorded c.1400; that of "order to pay" (technically

bill of exchange) is from 1570s; that of "paper money" is from 1660s. Meaning "draft of an act of Parliament" is from 1510s. The verb meaning "to send someone a bill of charge" is from 1867.

bill

"bird's beak," O.E., related to bill, a poetic word for "a kind of sword" (especially one with a hooked blade), from a common Germanic word for cutting or chopping weapons (cf. O.H.G. bihal, O.N. bilda "hatchet," O.S. bil "sword"), from PIE base *bheie- "to cut, to strike." Used also in M.E. of beak-like

projections of land.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

fill the bill

Serve a particular purpose well, as in I was afraid there wasn't enough chicken for everyone, but this casserole will fill the bill, or Karen's testimony just fills the bill, so we're sure to get a conviction. This expression alludes to adding less-known performers to a program (or bill) in order to make a long enough entertainment. [First half of 1800s]

Matching Quote

"The measure discriminates definitely against products which make up what has been universally considered a program of safe farming. The bill upholds as ideals of American farming the men who grow cotton, corn, rice, swine, tobacco, or wheat and nothing else. These are to be given special favors at the expense of the farmer who has toiled for years to build up a constructive farming enterprise to include a variety of crops and livestock."

-Calvin Coolidge

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