billet

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Behind our billet was the open country where Nature, the great mother, was busy; the butterflies flitted over the soldiers' (p. 262) graves, the grass grew over unburied dead men, who seemed to be sinking into the ground, apple trees threw out a wealth of blossom which the breezes flung broadcast to earth like young lives in the whirlwind of war.

View all »
Definitions (44)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. noun Lodging for troops.
  2. noun A written order directing that such lodging be provided.
  3. noun A position of employment; a job.
11 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (23)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The wicket-keeper had a grim smile on his lips, for his billet was no easy one. —  The Hill A Romance of Friendship
  • Behind our billet was the open country where Nature, the great mother, was busy; the butterflies flitted over the soldiers' (p. 262) graves, the grass grew over unburied dead men, who seemed to be sinking into the ground, apple trees threw out a wealth of blossom which the breezes flung broadcast to earth like young lives in the whirlwind of war. —  The Red Horizon
  • The next chance of a billet was at Grantsville, two leagues farther on. —  Border and Bastille
  • I took it and started on the dead run for my billet, about 400 yards away, and in a minute or two Mac followed with another comb. —  S.O.S. Stand to!
  • "When he went to London to apply for his billet, the Lieutenant said to him: 'You must have been down there before, young man.' —  The Woman Thou Gavest Me Being the Story of Mary O'Neill
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 241 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

billet:   billets
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, official register, from Old French billette, from bullette, diminutive of bulle, document, from Medieval Latin bulla, document, seal; see bill1.
  2. Middle English, from Old French billette, diminutive of bille, log, from Vulgar Latin *bilia, possibly of Celtic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English billette, from Anglo-French billette (Middle Latin billeta, French billet, billette), diminutive of bille, a writing: see bill.
  2. from billet, n.
  3. Also billot, from Middle English billette, bylet, from Old French billete, French billette, also billot, a block or log of wood, diminutives of bille, from Middle Latin billus, a log, a stock of a tree; origin unknown. Cf. billiards.
  4. Cf. billard and bil.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈbɪlɛt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

bo · discombobulating · vermiform · revamp · Dualism

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

these grunts every eight hours · haul it off to our darkest dungeon · send for a doctor · forget what witticism you were originally going to insert here because you've just banged your knee on your desk · the rest will come naturally