Also 4–6 billette, 5 bylet, 5–6 belet, 6 byllet, 8 billot. [a. F. billette (OF. billete), and billot, diminutives of bille ‘trunk of a tree, length of round timber’; in 12th c. med.L. billa and billus ‘branch, trunk of a tree’: of unknown origin. (The Celtic derivation given by Littré and others is erroneous. The alleged Irish bille ‘trunk of a tree,’ is only one of the innumerable figments of O’Reilly’s Dictionary. Whitley Stokes.)]
1. A thick piece of wood cut to a suitable length for fuel.
[1361. in Rymer’s Fœdera, VI. 316. Quatuor Milia Billetorum … Emi & Provideri.]
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 36. Bylet, schyde, tedula.
1635. W. Austin, Medit., 36. Surely many stickes together, burne more vehemently, then a single Billet.
1748. Anson, Voy., II. ii. 133. Some of our men … were employed in cutting down trees, and splitting them into billets.
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., II. v. 349. He slept on the ground with a billet of wood for his pillow.
† b. collect. Wood so cut for fuel; billet-wood. Obs.
1465. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 482. Payd fore a cartfulle of belet at Eltam, ijs. viijd.
1559. Fabyan, VII. 705. The maior … solde to the poore people billet and faggot, by the peniworthe.
1642. Charles I., in Let. Student Oxf., 1. Where … was fuell and billet enough.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 27. The smaller trunchions … make billet, bavine, and coals.
† c. Fire-wood of size regulated by law. Obs.
1502. Arnold, Chron. (1811), 98. Item that euery Esex belet of one [shide] contayn in lengith with the Carf iij fote and half of assise and in gretnes in ye middes xv inches.
1542–3. Act 34–35 Hen. VIII., iii. The vntrewe lengthe and quantitie of faggotte talwood, and billette.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., II. vii. (1588), 208.
2. A (thick) stick used as a weapon. † Single billet: single stick.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. iii. 58. Or they shall beat out my braines with billets.
1613. Beaum. & Fl., Captain, II. i. 53/1. Fighting at single billet with a barge-man.
[1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 88. Nan … was taking up a billet to knock me on the head.]
3. A small bar of metal. † a. A ‘bar’ or ingot of gold or silver. b. Of iron or steel: see quot.
[1353. Act 27 Edw. III., ii. § 14. Plate dargent, billettes dor et tut autre maner dor.]
1670. Blount, Law Dict., Billets of Gold, Wedges or Ingots of Gold.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss.: Billet 1. Iron or steel, drawn from a pile, bloom, or ingot, into a small bar for further manufacture.
2. A small bloom.
1883. Daily News, 8 Oct., 2/5. In Bessemer steel … hoops and billets are somewhat easier to buy.
4. Arch. An ornamental molding used in Norman architecture, consisting of short cylindrical pieces placed lengthwise at regular intervals in hollow moldings; sometimes in two or more rows, breaking joint. Also attrib.
1835. T. Hope, Hist. Ess. Archit., xiii. (1840), I. 139. Never extended beyond the jejune form of the lozenge … or the zig-zag, and the billet.
1870. F. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 69. Their billet ornamentation and its chequered shade.
1879. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., II. 86. The chamfers of a string or label relieved with the billet or short piece of roll left projecting from them at intervals.
5. pl. The excrements of a fox. (cf. BILLETING 3.)
¶ The following senses belong doubtfully to this or the prec. word.
6. Her. A bearing of the shape of a rectangle placed on end. (Variously conjectured by early writers to represent a folded letter, a brick, and cloth of gold.)
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, 153. A siluer fes ’tween many billets gold.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, iv. v. (1660), 279. This Billet in Armory is taken for a paper folded up in form of a letter. Ibid. (1724), (ed. 6), Dict., Billets … Tresor Heraldique says, most Authors take them for Bricks.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Billets, in Heraldry, are supposed to represent pieces of cloth of gold or silver.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), II. ii. 24. The eleven argent billets on their azure shield.
† 7. transf. and fig. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 613. xii persones all ridyng on coursers barded and apparelled in white Sattin and blacke broched with gold and silver with cuttes and culpynes muche after tawny and blacke Sattin Billottes.
c. 1600. G. Wyatt, in Cavendish’s Wolsey (1825), II. 200. So many cross billets of cunning polities, surmounted by the guiding providence of God.
8. Saddlery. a. A strap that enters a buckle. b. A pocket or loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks., 195. Ij. peyr of brode reynys, and ij. new bellet-thongs.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 137. The tassels, the plated buckles, and the leather billets. Ibid., 138. The tassel, and the billet and buckle to complete it, is also 3s.
9. Comb. and Attrib., as billet-dealer, -wood, etc.; billet-head, a piece of wood at the bow of a whale-boat, round which the harpoon line runs; also ‘a carved prow bending in and out, contrariwise to the fiddle-head (scroll-head)’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.; billet-mo(u)lding = BILLET sb.2 4.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Noble Gent., III. i. 35. There’s not the least of the *billet dealers But have it in measure delicate.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxv. 134. The cornucopia which ornamented her *billet-head.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven., I. xxiv. § 3. What is called the Norman *billet moulding.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., II. Norf. 70. A Fire of clean *Billet-wood.
1772. Phil. Trans., LXII. 90. *Billet-wood for fewel.
