[Fr.; = sweet note.] A love-letter. (Now usually jocular.)
1673. Dryden, Marr. à la Mode, II. i. 261. He sings and dances en François, and writes the billets doux to a miracle.
a. 1688. Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Ep. Julian, Wks. 1705, II. 94. Strephon’s Billet douxe’s have made them sport.
1712. Pope, Rape Lock, I. 138. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, iv. To see whether there was a billet-doux hidden among the flowers.
