bil·let 2 (blt)
n.
1. A short, thick piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
2. One of a series of regularly spaced, log-shaped segments used horizontally as ornamentation in the moldings of Norman architecture.
3.
a. A small, usually rectangular bar of iron or steel in an intermediate stage of manufacture.
b. A small ingot of nonferrous metal.
4.
a. The part of a harness strap that passes through a buckle.
b. A loop or pocket for securing the end of a buckled harness strap.
Billet is a tem used to describe a chunk of metal in a foundry that will be formed into the final product. More specifically it is what is formed from an ingot. A billet, in general, never leaves the foundry. "Made from Billet Aluminum" is a marketers creation. If you are machining something you are machining from solid or bar stock but that just does not have the same ring to it...