I. ˈbilə̇t, usu -d.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English bylet, from Middle French billette, bullette, diminutive of bulle document, from Medieval Latin bulla — more at bill
1. archaic : a brief usually informal letter : note
2.
a. : an official order directing that a member of a military force be provided with board and lodging (as in a private home)
the townspeople received billets ordering them to lodge the regiment overnight
b. : quarters assigned (as by a billet) : a lodging place
the old mansion served as the soldiers' billet for nearly a week
3.
a. : position , job , post , appointment
he landed a lucrative billet with a New York publishing house
b. : a place allotted : destination
every bullet has its billet
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to enter in a list
2. : to assign quarters to (as soldiers) by a note or other directive : assign a place to : locate
the troops were billeted with the friendly inhabitants of the village
billeting visitors in private homes — Harry Gordon
3. : to serve with a billet requiring lodgings
the farmer had already been billeted when a fresh group of soldiers arrived
intransitive verb
: to have quarters : lodge
for a time they billeted in a ramshackle house
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English bylet, from Middle French billete, diminutive of bille log, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish bile sacred tree; probably akin to Latin florēre to bloom — more at blow
1.
a. : a chunky piece of wood (as one for firewood) : a short round log : a section obtained by halving, quartering, or otherwise splitting or sawing logs lengthwise
b. obsolete : a thick usually knobbed stick : cudgel
2.
a. : a strap that enters a buckle (as the ends of harness reins or of the cheek pieces that buckle on the bit)
b. : a loop that receives the end of a buckled strap
3. : a heraldic bearing in the form of an upright rectangle
4.
a. : a bar of metal (as of gold or iron)
b. : a piece of semifinished iron or steel nearly square in section made by rolling an ingot or bloom until it has been reduced in size to 1 1/2 to 6 in. square
c. : a section of nonferrous metal ingot hot-worked by forging, rolling, or extrusion
d. : a nonferrous metal casting suitable for rolling or extrusion
5. : an ornament in Norman moldings that resembles a billet of wood of rounded or sometimes polygonal cross section
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably alteration of earlier billard coalfish
chiefly Britain : a young pollack or coalfish