billet

plural billets

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[…]

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI

   1 more example

   On their return home, however, she was greatly consoled by Lady Mandeville's reading aloud a billet from Edward Lorraine, regretting that unexpected business,...

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 253

2. A written order to quarter soldiers.

   1 more example

   The soldiers had nearly all departed for their quarters, when one poor fellow, who had fallen asleep, leaning on his musket against the wall, was awakened by the silence, and starting up, he went over to the table at which Mr. Consadine was seated, hoping his worship would give him a good billet. "A good billet, my lad," said the billet-master-general, "that you shall have, and on the biggest house in the whole place. Do you hear, Tom! make out a billet for this honest man upon Mr. Barry of Cairn Thierna."

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 538

3. A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery.

   1 more example

   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.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 262–263

plural billets

1. A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge.

   17 June 1940: Prime Minister Pétain requests armistice. Germans use the Foucaults’ holiday home as officers’ billet. Foucault steals firewood for school from collaborationist militia. Foucault does well at school, but messes up his summer exams in 1940.

   1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, page 9

   1 more example

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team.
3. 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.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

4. figurativelyBerth; position.

   His shafts of satire fly straight to their billet, and there they rankle.

   1897, Pall Mall Magazine

   1 more example

   The blind man laughed and a substantial coin found its billet in the caretaker's never-reluctant palm.

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

present singular third person billets · participle present billeting · participle present rare billetting · participle past billeted · past billeted · participle past rare billetted · past rare billetted

1. transitiveTo lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order.

   Billeted in so antiquated a mansion.

   1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Destroy, with entire unpity, raze to the ground, those detestable houses where you billet the progeny of the libertinage of the poor, appalling cloacas, wherefrom there every day spews forth into society a swarm of new-made creatures […]

   1965, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and other Writings

2. intransitiveTo lodge, or be quartered, in a private house.
3. transitiveTo direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge.

plural billets

1. engineeringA 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.

   1964 July, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Modern Railways, page 70

2. A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.

   They shall beat out my brains with billets.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   1 more example

   I cannot part your hair on my knee, fetch a billet of wood.

   1890, Joseph Jacobs, “The Rose-Tree”, in English Fairy Tales, page 16

3. A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting.
4. governmentA rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.
5. architectureAn ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round.
6. A strap that enters a buckle.
7. A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.

plural billets

1. alternativeAlternative form of billard (“coalfish”).