BILLET • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Billet

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/bˈɪlət/ /bˈɪlɪt/ Listen

noun

Billard n. (Written also billet and billit) (Zool.) An English fish, allied to the cod; the coalfish.

Billet n.

A small paper; a note; a short letter. "I got your melancholy billet."

A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge; as, a billet of residence.

Quarters or place to which one is assigned, as by a billet or ticket; berth; position. Also used fig. (Colloq.) "The men who cling to easy billets ashore." "His shafts of satire fly straight to their billet, and there they rankle."

Billet n.

A small stick of wood, as for firewood. "They shall beat out my brains with billets."

(Metal.) A short bar of metal, as of gold or iron.

(Arch.) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood either square or round.

(Saddlery)

(a)

A strap which enters a buckle.

(b)

A loop which receives the end of a buckled strap.

(Her.) A bearing in the form of an oblong rectangle.

verb

Billet v. t. (past & past part. billeted; pres. part. billeting) (Mil.) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence: To quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses. "Billeted in so antiquated a mansion."

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Etymology of 'Billet'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Billet" Quotes from Famous Books

... by rum the officers grew rich. In course of time the country was divided into districts, about thirty or thirty-five in number, over each of which an officer presided as police magistrate, with a clerk and staff of constables, one of whom was official flogger, always a convict promoted to the billet for ...

— The Book of the Bush • George Dunderdale

... the opposite bank of the river, just below the town, with about one hundred and fifty men, he crossed over from Longueuil and reached the eastern suburbs at about ten o'clock p.m., when he proceeded to billet his men in private houses. That was before the days of telephones, so it was some time before the news reached the city and the gates were closed. The rash project of so small a force attempting to beleaguer a walled town of ...

— Famous Firesides of French Canada • Mary Wilson Alloway

... acquaintance it was agreeable to make. Moreover, officers of high standing, over from the front or holding commands at home, would look in to pass the time of day and keep one posted with what was going on afield. Soldiers appointed to some new billet overseas had constantly to be fitted out with instructions, or to be provided with books, maps, and cipher. The last that I was to see of that brilliant leader, General Maude, was when I went down to Victoria to see him and my old contemporary of "Shop" days, General E. A. Fanshawe, off on their ...

— Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918 • Charles Edward Callwell

... earth he finds to do, Mrs. Elliott?" said he one morning, after he had just read the hasty billet and sat down ...

— Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson

... cavalry, scion of a Philadelphia family well known to the Stuyvesants of Gotham and "trotting in the same class," had come over from department head-quarters, where he had a billet as engineer officer, to call on Stuyvesant and to cheer him up and contribute to his convalescence, and did so after the manner of men, by talking on all manner of topics for nearly an hour and winding ...

— Ray's Daughter - A Story of Manila • Charles King

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