billet vs scutch

billet

noun
  • A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood. 

  • A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting. 

  • A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery. 

  • An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round. 

  • A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap. 

  • Berth; position. 

  • An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship. 

  • A strap that enters a buckle. 

  • A short informal letter. 

  • A written order to quarter soldiers. 

  • A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon. 

  • Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team. 

  • A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge. 

  • A semi-finished length of metal. 

verb
  • To lodge, or be quartered, in a private house. 

  • To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. 

  • To lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order. 

scutch

noun
  • A wooden implement shaped like a large knife used to separate the valuable fibres of flax or hemp by beating them and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions. 

  • A bricklayer's small picklike tool with two cutting edges (or prongs) for dressing stone or cutting and trimming bricks. 

  • The woody fibre of flax or hemp; the refuse of scutched flax or hemp. 

  • A tuft or clump of grass. 

verb
  • To separate the woody fibre from (flax, hemp, etc.) by beating; to swingle. 

How often have the words billet and scutch occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )