Cross"bill` (-b&ibreve;l`). (Law) A bill brought by a defendant, in an equity or chancery suit, against the plaintiff, respecting the matter in question in that suit. Bouvier.

&fist; In criminal practice, cross bills of indictment for assault, in which the prosecutor in once case is the defendant in another, may be tried together.

Cross"bill`, n. (Zoöl.) A bird of the genus Loxia, allied to the finches. Their mandibles are strongly curved and cross each other; the crossbeak.

• Any of various finches of the genus Loxia, whose bill crosses over at the tips; they are specialist feeders on conifer cones.