billets-doux

The rim of the wheel is reserved for engraving short billets-doux .

Time for Something Special Michael Clerizo 2011

That's not exactly news, and just because he left a trail of e-mails that would make a romance novel writer cringe doesn't make him a complete embarrassment; billets-doux don't hold up well under klieg lights.

Judgment Day for Mark Sanford 2009

Next to the billets-doux is a hillock of Starbucks gift cards from performers who are apparently under the impression that Mr. Saks can be bought for beans.

In Praise of Matchmakers Joanne Kaufman 2011

In the 1930s, E.H. Crump, boss of the Memphis political machine, hired a man to woo my grandmother and then used the ensuing billets-doux to blackmail my grandfather, who was mayor.

Mayhill Fowler: Bill Clinton's Mistress: The Story That Never Was 2010

How many pretty gentlemen have been unmercifully jilted by pert hussies, after having curtseyed to them at half a dozen operas; nay, permitted themselves to be led out twice; yet, after these encouragements, which amount very near to an engagement, have refused their billets-doux, and perhaps married other men, under their noses.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Lady Lisa Robertson Lemon Hound 2008

How many pretty gentlemen have been unmercifully jilted by pert hussies, after having curtseyed to them at half a dozen operas; nay, permitted themselves to be led out twice; yet, after these encouragements, which amount very near to an engagement, have refused their billets-doux, and perhaps married other men, under their noses.

Archive 2008-08-01 Lemon Hound 2008

She had received the usual round of billets-doux from her admirers that morning, men whose habit was to send letters out to all and sundry, hoping that one day the strategy would succeed in springing a mate.

The Scandal of the Season Sophie Gee 2007

But — he had not caused the wretchedness of any woman; he gambled without losing; his luck was not notorious; he was far too upright to deceive or mislead any one, no matter who, even a wanton; never did he leave his billets-doux lying about, and he possessed no coffer or desk for love-letters which his friends were at liberty to read while he tied his cravat or trimmed his beard.

A Marriage Contract 2007

If you have left any papers about, any bills, any billets-doux, I make no doubt the ladies have read every single one of them, according to the amiable habits of their sex.

The Newcomes 2006

If the Cattarina wrote him billets-doux, I fear Aunt Bernstein would have bade him accept the invitations: but the lad had brought with him from his colonial home a stock of modesty which he still wore along with the honest homespun linen.

The Virginians 2006