bil·let

noun

/ˈbɪlɪt/

a place, often in a private house, where soldiers live temporarily部队临时营舍（常设在民宅里）
- The troops are all in billets (= not in camps or barracks).部队全部住在民房里（不住在营地或军营里）。
Word Originlate Middle English (originally denoting a short written document): from Anglo-Norman French billette, diminutive of bille, probably based on medieval Latin bulla ‘seal, sealed document’. The verb is recorded in the late 16th cent., and the noun sense, ‘a written order requiring a householder to lodge the bearer, usually a soldier’, from the mid 17th cent.; hence the current meaning.

verb

/ˈbɪlɪt/

[transitive, usually passive]

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they billet	/ˈbɪlɪt/ /ˈbɪlɪt/
he / she / it billets	/ˈbɪlɪts/ /ˈbɪlɪts/
past simple billeted	/ˈbɪlɪtɪd/ /ˈbɪlɪtɪd/
past participle billeted	/ˈbɪlɪtɪd/ /ˈbɪlɪtɪd/
-ing form billeting	/ˈbɪlɪtɪŋ/ /ˈbɪlɪtɪŋ/

+ adv./prep. to send soldiers to live somewhere for a period of time, especially in private houses during a war部队临时设营（尤指战争期间在民宅里）
- The troops were billeted in the town with local families.部队临时驻扎在镇上，住在当地人家中。
Word Originlate Middle English (originally denoting a short written document): from Anglo-Norman French billette, diminutive of bille, probably based on medieval Latin bulla ‘seal, sealed document’. The verb is recorded in the late 16th cent., and the noun sense, ‘a written order requiring a householder to lodge the bearer, usually a soldier’, from the mid 17th cent.; hence the current meaning.