billet

¹ American  

[bil-it] / ˈbɪl ɪt /

noun

1. lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building.

2. Military. an official order, written or verbal, directing the person to whom it is addressed to provide such lodging.

3. a place assigned, as a bunk, berth, or the like, to a member of a ship's crew.

4. job; position; appointment.

5. Archaic. a written note, short letter, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

billeted, billeting

1. Military. to direct (a soldier) by ticket, note, or verbal order, where to lodge.

2. to provide lodging for; quarter.

   We arranged with the townspeople to billet the students.

verb (used without object)

billeted, billeting

1. to obtain lodging; stay.

   They billeted in youth hostels.

billet ² American  

[bil-it] / ˈbɪl ɪt /

noun

1. a small chunk of wood; a short section of a log, especially one cut for fuel.

2. Metalworking. a comparatively narrow, generally square, bar of steel, especially one rolled or forged from an ingot; a narrow bloom.

3. an iron or steel slab upon concrete, serving as a footing to a column.

4. Architecture. any of a series of closely spaced cylindrical objects, often in several rows, used as ornaments in a hollow molding or cornice.

5. a strap that passes through a buckle, as to connect the ends of a girth.

6. a pocket or loop for securing the end of a strap that has been buckled.

7. thumbpiece.

8. Heraldry. a small, rectangular figure with the longer sides generally vertical, said to represent a block of wood.

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billet ¹ British  

/ ˈbɪlɪt /

noun

1. accommodation, esp for a soldier, in civilian lodgings

2. the official requisition for such lodgings

3. a space or berth allocated, esp for slinging a hammock, in a ship

4. informal a job

5. archaic a brief letter or document

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verb

1. (tr) to assign a lodging to (a soldier)

2. informal (tr) to assign to a post or job

3. to lodge or be lodged

billet ² British  

/ ˈbɪlɪt /

noun

1. a chunk of wood, esp for fuel

2. metallurgy

   1. a metal bar of square or circular cross section

   2. an ingot cast into the shape of a prism

3. architect a carved ornament in a moulding, with short cylinders or blocks evenly spaced

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Other Word Forms

• billetee noun
• billeter noun
• unbilleted adjective

Etymology

Origin of billet¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English billet, bylet “official register; record,” from Anglo-French, Old French billette, variant of Old French bullette, equivalent to bulle bill ¹ + -ette -ette

Origin of billet²

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English billet, bylet, from Old French billette, equivalent to bille “log, tree trunk” (from unrecorded Gaulish bilia “tree trunk”; compare Old Irish bile “landmark tree”) + -ette -ette

Example Sentences

Hundreds of them marched — marched — down from Northern California to this new billet.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024

The spot premium for low-carbon billet, a fabricated product often used in construction, has slid to zero from $30 a tonne in January, he said.

From Reuters • Dec. 17, 2022

Some critics dubbed her the border czar — a title she has resoundingly rejected, insisting her billet stops south of the border.

From Washington Times • Dec. 13, 2021

“When he was here, we would go for drives and he would sing, he would dance, he would laugh,” said his billet mom, Kim Pagé.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2021

About twenty yards from our dug-out there is a small house that was used as an officers’ billet.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque