Page:Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant (1889) by Barrere & Leland.djvu/144

 are shirked, with consequences in the way of bilking, or getting beds without paying for them.—Thor Fredur: Sketches from Shady Places.

Bill (Eton), in the bill, on the punishment list.

Bill, a long or short (common), a term of imprisonment.

Bill blighters (winter), small fagots employed in the kitchen to light the fires.

Billed up (army), confined to barracks, a term peculiar to Her Majesty's Guards, to whom a punishment which curtails freedom of movement is no doubt especially irksome.

Billet (Australian, popular), a situation. A billet is as universal a term for a situation as "screw" is for a salary in Australia, or "bobby" for policeman in England. The metaphor is of course taken from billets or quarters being found for soldiers, who are then said to be "billeted out" in military parlance. Thus one of the commonest slang words in Australia—

A gentleman at a boarding-house in Parramatta, New South Wales, in 1883, related with great gusto a curate's billet in Northumberland which had just come under his notice. The vicar was away travelling round the world for his health, and the curate, a Cambridge graduate, received the magnificent stipend of £120 a year for looking after the church services, the parish, the vicar's wife and five children, and two pupils cramming for matriculation.

Billet is used in England with a like signification. In prisons "getting a billet" is being appointed to some office which procures certain advantages for the convict who is fortunate enough to receive the favour.

(Old military slang), billet, appointed place or aim. "Every bullet has its billet."