Meaning & use
billet
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Meanings
nouncountable
A place, often a private home or public building, where soldiers are given temporary lodging.
Grammar: Countable; often used of old wars.
Patterns
- a billet in something
The soldiers found a billet in a farmhouse.
Each family provided a billet for two officers.
The barn was an uncomfortable billet.
verbtransitive
To arrange for soldiers or others to stay in a place temporarily.
Grammar: Often passive, with with or in.
Patterns
- billet someone with someone
- billet someone in something
Troops were billeted in the village school.
The town billeted refugees with local families.
nouncountabletechnical
A short, thick piece of wood or metal, such as firewood or a metal bar before it is shaped.
Grammar: Technical; used in metalworking and forestry.
The smith heated a steel billet.
Word forms
| plural | billets |
|---|---|
| third person singular | billets |
| past tense | billeted |
| past participle | billeted |
| -ing form | billeting |
Common combinations
- find a billet
- They found a billet for the night.
- billeted with
- He was billeted with a baker.
- billeted in
- The troops were billeted in the church.
- comfortable billet
- It was a comfortable billet.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: billet or bullet? billet or billed?
billet vs bullet
A bullet is ammunition; billet is lodging.
billet vs billed
Billed means sent an invoice.
Practice
During the war, several soldiers were ___ in the farmer's barn.
Choose one answer.
Billeted means given temporary lodging. Billed would mean charged money.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “billet”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.