Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

billet1

[bil-it]
See more synonyms for billet on Thesaurus.com
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.
Show More
verb (used with object), bil·let·ed, bil·let·ing.
  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.
Show More
verb (used without object), bil·let·ed, bil·let·ing.
  1. to obtain lodging; stay: They billeted in youth hostels.
Show More

Origin of billet1

1375–1425; late Middle English bylet, billett official register < Anglo-French billette, Old French bullette, equivalent to bulle bill1 + -ette -ette
Related formsbil·let·er, nounun·bil·let·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for billeted

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

British Dictionary definitions for billeted

billet1

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
Show More
verb -lets, -leting or -leted
  1. (tr) to assign a lodging to (a soldier)
  2. (tr) informal to assign to a post or job
  3. to lodge or be lodged
Show More
Derived Formsbilletee, nounbilleter, noun

Word Origin

C15: from Old French billette, from bulle a document; see bull ³

billet2

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
Show More

Word Origin

C15: from Old French billette a little log, from bille log, probably of Celtic origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for billeted

billet

v.

1590s, "to assign quarters to," earlier, as a noun, "official record or register" (Middle English), from Anglo-French billette "list, schedule," diminutive of bille (see bill (n.1)). Related: Billeted; billeting.

Show More

billet

n.1

thick stick of wood, mid-15c., from Middle French billette, diminutive of bille "stick of wood" (see billiards).

Show More

billet

n.2

"document, note;" see billet-doux.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper