‖ billet-doux
(bijɛdu)
[Fr.; = sweet note.]
A love-letter. (Now usually jocular.)
| 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i. 261 He sings and dances en Fran{cced}ois, and writes the billets doux to a miracle. a 1688 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Ep. Julian Wks. 1705 II. 94 Strephon's Billet douxe's have made them sport. 1712 Pope Rape Lock i. 138 Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair iv, To see whether there was a billet-doux hidden among the flowers. |