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Billet
Definitions
- 1 A short informal letter.
"However, when his cool reflections returned, he plainly perceived that his case was neither mended nor altered by Sophia's billet[…]"
- 2 A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge.
"Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets."
- 3 A semi-finished length of metal.
"The Saturday evening Cardiff-West Wales mail train is still steam-worked, but a most unlikely locomotive used on May 23 was Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45250 (5A); it returned on May 25 with a train of steel billets."
- 4 Alternative form of billard (“coalfish”). alt-of, alternative
- 5 lodging for military personnel (especially in a private home) wordnet
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 A written order to quarter soldiers.
- 7 Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team.
- 8 A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
"They shall beat out my brains with billets."
- 9 a short personal letter wordnet
- 10 A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery.
"A murmur of applause and gratitude arose from the crowd, which was soon interrupted by the preparations for distributing the tickets. Four pages, clothed in white and crimson, brought in two massive salvers, whose delicate carving was from the unrivalled graver of Benvenuto Cellini. These were filled with small sealed billets, from which the company were to draw, and afterwards open, in succession. The pages first approached and knelt before the Queens, who each took one of the billets, and then proceeded to distribute the remainder among the rest."
- 11 An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship.
"The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy."
- 12 A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting.
- 13 Berth; position. figuratively
"His shafts of satire fly straight to their billet, and there they rankle."
- 14 A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.
- 15 An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round.
- 16 A strap that enters a buckle.
- 17 A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.
- 1 To lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order. transitive
"Billeted in so antiquated a mansion."
- 2 provide housing for (military personnel) wordnet
- 3 To lodge, or be quartered, in a private house. intransitive
- 4 To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. transitive
Etymology
From Middle English bylet, from Anglo-Norman billette (“list, schedule”), from bille + -ette, from Latin bulla (“document”).
From Middle French billette (“schedule”), from bullette, diminutive form of bulle (“document”), from Medieval Latin bulla, hence cognate with etymology 1 above.
From Middle French billette (“schedule”), from bullette, diminutive form of bulle (“document”), from Medieval Latin bulla, hence cognate with etymology 1 above.
From Middle English billet, bylet, belet, billette, from Old French billette, from bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“tree”)).
See also for "billet"
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Unscramble this word: billet