billet

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Lodging for troops.
2. n. A written order directing that such lodging be provided.
3. n. A position of employment; a job.
4. n. Archaic A short letter; a note.
5. v. To lodge (soldiers).
6. v. To serve (a person) with a written order to provide lodging for soldiers.
7. v. To assign lodging to.
8. v. To be quartered; lodge.
9. n. A short, thick piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
10. n. One of a series of regularly spaced, log-shaped segments used horizontally as ornamentation in the moldings of Norman architecture.
11. n. A small, usually rectangular bar of iron or steel in an intermediate stage of manufacture.
12. n. A small ingot of nonferrous metal.
13. n. The part of a harness strap that passes through a buckle.
14. n. A loop or pocket for securing the end of a buckled harness strap.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A small paper or note in writing; a short letter or document.
2. n. A ticket given by a billet-master or other officer directing the person to whom it is addressed to provide board and lodging for the soldier bearing it.
3. n. Hence The place where a soldier is lodged; lodging; accommodation.
4. n. The place (marked by a numbered hammock-hook) assigned to each of the crew of a man-of-war for slinging his hammock.
5. n. Hence A place, situation, position, or appointment: as, he is looking for a billet.
6. n. A ballot or voting-paper.
7. To direct (a soldier) by a ticket or note where to lodge; hence, to quarter or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses.
8. To be quartered; lodge: specifically applied to soldiers.
9. n. A small stick of wood; especially, a stick of wood cut for fuel. A billet of firewood must, by a statute of Elizabeth, measure 3 feet 4 inches in length. Bundles of billets are called billet-wood.
10. n. In heraldry, a bearing in the form of small rectangle, usually set with the long sides vertical. The number, position, and tincture must always be specified: thus, the illustration shows three billets azure in chief. Billets should always be represented flat, without shadow or relief. See brick, 4.
11. n. In architecture: An ornament much used in early medieval work, consisting of an imitation of a wooden billet, or a small section of a rod, of which a series are placed at regular intervals in or upon a molding, usually a concave molding. See cut under billet-molding.
12. n. A checker.
13. n. A short strap used for connecting various straps and portions of a harness.
14. n. A pocket or loop into which the end of a strap is inserted after passing through a buckle.
15. n. A small bloom; a short bar of iron or steel, with a square section, and of smaller size than an ordinary “pile.” A billet is rolled of the size and weight required for the finished article which is to be produced from it.
16. n. A local English name of the coal-fish, especially when one year old.

Wiktionary

1. n. a place where a soldier is assigned to lodge
2. v. of a householder, etc. to lodge soldiers, usually by order
3. v. of a soldier to lodge, or be quartered, in a private house
4. n. A short informal letter.
5. n. A written order to quarter soldiers.
6. n. metallurgy a semi-finished length of metal
7. n. a short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood
8. n. heraldry A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon
9. n. architecture An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood either square or round.
10. n. A strap which enters a buckle.
11. n. A loop which receives the end of a buckled strap.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A small paper; a note; a short letter.
2. n. A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge.
3. n. colloq. Quarters or place to which one is assigned, as by a billet or ticket; berth; position. Also used fig.
4. v. (Mil.) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence: To quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses.
5. n. A small stick of wood, as for firewood.
6. n. (Metal.) A short bar of metal, as of gold or iron.
7. n. (Arch.) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood either square or round.
8. n. A strap which enters a buckle.
9. n. A loop which receives the end of a buckled strap.
10. n. (Her.) A bearing in the form of oblong rectangle.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a short personal letter
2. v. provide housing for (military personnel)
3. n. a job in an organization
4. n. lodging for military personnel (especially in a private home)