Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - billet

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English bylet, from Anglo-French ~te, diminutive of bille bill  Date: 15th century  1. archaic a brief letter ; note  2.  a. an official order directing that a member of a military force be provided with board and lodging (as in a private home)  b. quarters assigned by or as if by a ~  3. position, job a lucrative ~  II. transitive verb  Date: 1594  1. to assign lodging to (as soldiers) by or as if by a ~  2. to serve with a ~ ~ a householder  III. noun  Etymology: Middle English bylet, from Anglo-French ~e, diminutive of bille log, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish bile landmark tree  Date: 15th century  1.  a. a chunky piece of wood (as for firewood)  b. obsolete cudgel  2.  a. a bar of metal  b. a piece of semifinished iron or steel nearly square in section made by rolling an ingot or bloom  c. a section of nonferrous metal ingot hot-worked by forging, rolling, or extrusion  d. a nonferrous casting suitable for rolling or extrusion