noun
- lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building.
- Military. an official order, written or verbal, directing the person to whom it is addressed to provide such lodging.
- a place assigned, as a bunk, berth, or the like, to a member of a ship’s crew.
- job; position; appointment.
- Archaic. a written note, short letter, or the like.
verb (used with object), bil·let·ed, bil·let·ing.
- Military. to direct (a soldier) by ticket, note, or verbal order, where to lodge.
- to provide lodging for; quarter: We arranged with the townspeople to billet the students.
verb (used without object), bil·let·ed, bil·let·ing.
- to obtain lodging; stay: They billeted in youth hostels.
noun
- accommodation, esp for a soldier, in civilian lodgings
- the official requisition for such lodgings
- a space or berth allocated, esp for slinging a hammock, in a ship
- informal a job
- archaic a brief letter or document
verb -lets, -leting or -leted
- (tr) to assign a lodging to (a soldier)
- (tr) informal to assign to a post or job
- to lodge or be lodged
noun
- a chunk of wood, esp for fuel
- metallurgy
- a metal bar of square or circular cross section
- an ingot cast into the shape of a prism
- architect a carved ornament in a moulding, with short cylinders or blocks evenly spaced
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.
thick stick of wood, mid-15c., from Middle French billette, diminutive of bille “stick of wood” (see billiards).
“document, note;” see billet-doux.