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

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

“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

One of the first things he did was inform his coaches and billet families from his time in Everett.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2021

In the pre-show room of the ride, look for a solid microcrystalline silicon billet, ancient silicon wafer chips, vintage cartridge casings for hard drive disks and microscopes.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2021

“We don’t know. The regiment arrived yesterday and commandeered every billet, every scrap of food, and every ship in the town. They’d have had this boat, too, if you hadn’t taken it.”

From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman