Meaning of Billet | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A short informal letter.
2. A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge.
3. A semi-finished length of metal.
4. A written order to quarter soldiers.
5. Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team.
6. A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
7. A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery.
8. An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship.
9. A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting.
10. Berth; position.
    figuratively
11. A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.
12. An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round.
13. A strap that enters a buckle.
14. A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.

Equivalents

Examples

“However, when his cool reflections returned, he plainly perceived that his case was neither mended nor altered by Sophia's billet[…]”

“On their return home, however, she was greatly consoled by Lady Mandeville's reading aloud a billet from Edward Lorraine, regretting that unexpected business,...”

“A murmur of applause and gratitude arose from the crowd, which was soon interrupted by the preparations for distributing the tickets. Four pages, clothed in white and crimson, brought in two massive salvers, whose delicate carving was from the unrivalled graver of Benvenuto Cellini. These were filled with small sealed billets, from which the company were to draw, and afterwards open, in succession. The pages first approached and knelt before the Queens, who each took one of the billets, and then proceeded to distribute the remainder among the rest.”

“Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.”

“17 June 1940: Prime Minister Pétain requests armistice. Germans use the Foucaults’ holiday home as officers’ billet. Foucault steals firewood for school from collaborationist militia. Foucault does well at school, but messes up his summer exams in 1940.”

“The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.”

“His shafts of satire fly straight to their billet, and there they rankle.”

“The Saturday evening Cardiff-West Wales mail train is still steam-worked, but a most unlikely locomotive used on May 23 was Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45250 (5A); it returned on May 25 with a train of steel billets.”

“They shall beat out my brains with billets.”

CEFR level