What is "to amend a bill"

Amend \A*mend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Amended; p. pr. & vb. n. Amending.] [F. amender, L. emendare; e (ex) + mendum, menda, fault, akin to Skr. minda personal defect. Cf. Emend, Mend.] To change or modify in any way for the better; as,

1. by simply removing what is erroneous, corrupt, superfluous, faulty, and the like;

2. by supplying deficiencies;

3. by substituting something else in the place of what is removed; to rectify.

   Mar not the thing that can not be amended.
   --Shak.

   An instant emergency, granting no possibility for revision, or opening for amended thought.
   --De Quincey.

   We shall cheer her sorrows, and amend her blood, by wedding her to a Norman.
   --Sir W. Scott.

   To amend a bill, to make some change in the details or provisions of a bill or measure while on its passage, professedly for its improvement.

   Syn: To Amend, Emend, Correct, Reform, Rectify.

   Usage: These words agree in the idea of bringing things into a more perfect state. We correct (literally, make straight) when we conform things to some standard or rule; as, to correct proof sheets. We amend by removing blemishes, faults, or errors, and thus rendering a thing more a nearly perfect; as, to amend our ways, to amend a text, the draft of a bill, etc. Emend is only another form of amend, and is applied chiefly to editions of books, etc. To reform is literally to form over again, or put into a new and better form; as, to reform one's life. To rectify is to make right; as, to rectify a mistake, to rectify abuses, inadvertencies, etc.