Because sometimes it's the same word, and sometimes it's a different word with the same spelling.
Sometimes, you have more than one word with the same spelling, despite being different words. Sometimes they are not the same type of word (such as the noun "troll" and the verb "troll"), in which case they are identified by their type. Other times, they are the same type, in which case they are numbered. -
Post 461
In other instances, a single word has two or more seperate meaning (for example, a "ruler" is "one that
rules", but it is also "smooth-edged strip (as of wood or metal) that is usually marked off in units (as inches) and is used as a straightedge or for measuring". Obviously, these are very different things, but they are the same word; so they get two different definitions under one entry. -
Post 461
Because the first two are different deifnitions of the same word, while the third is the definition of a completely different word (with the same spelling).
There are feve seperate words with the spelling "bill", three with the same use in English (noun). Therefore, they are numbered. (it's interesting to note that the nouns and non-nouns are more related than the nouns to each other. The act of billing (charging) someone is related to the word "bill" (a paper listing charges), but neither is related to "bill" (a medevial polearm).
- Post 466
Similarly, bill (a paper listing charges) and bill (a law proposed before the legislature)
are the same word, despite having two different meanings (this was explained to you in the post you quoted)... Often you'll find I've answered your question in advance. This is the second time recently where the answer to your question was in the text you actually quoted. Please try to read back through what was written when asking a question, so see if the question is already answered. -
Post 466
You are asking *why* they are different words? Because they have different entimologies. You are asking why a word has more than one definition? Because it's applied to more than one thing; sometimes directly, sometimes through a process where meanings evolove.
For Bill in particular:
The use of "bill" as the name for a bir's beak seems to have coem from the word "nib", meaning "point" (how one became the other I do not know). The word "bill" referring to the polearm appears to have been a reference to a similarity in shape between it and the bill of a duck (much like the "maden" torture device). Our otherr definitions of "bill" seem to derive from the Latin "billa", which referrs to a seal or document. The various definitions seem to have evolved from that root.
Law, interestingly, comes from "lawn" which comes from "lay". It refers to something which is placed on or spans the ground (or other surface). "lay down the law" may have had a specific meaning once.
