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bureau
6 dictionary results for: Bureau
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bu·reau 
[byoor-oh] Pronunciation Key
[byoor-oh] Pronunciation Key –noun, plural bu·reaus, bu·reaux
[byoor-ohz] Pronunciation Key.
[byoor-ohz] Pronunciation Key. | 1. | a chest of drawers, often with a mirror at the top. |
| 2. | a division of a government department or an independent administrative unit. |
| 3. | an office for collecting or distributing news or information, coordinating work, or performing specified services; agency: a travel bureau; a news bureau. |
| 4. | Chiefly British. a desk or writing table with drawers for papers. |
[Origin: 1710–20; < F: desk, office, orig. a kind of cloth (used to cover desks, etc.), AF, OF burel, equiv. to bur- (prob. < *būra, var. of LL burra wool, fluff; cf. bourrée) + -el n. suffix]
]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| bu·reau
(byŏŏr'ō) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. bu·reaus or bu·reaux (-ōz)
[French, cloth cover for desks, desk, office, from Old French burel, woolen cloth, probably from Vulgar Latin *būra, from Late Latin burra, shaggy garment.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
bureau
bureau
1699, from Fr. bureau "office, desk," originally "cloth covering for a desk," from burel "coarse woolen cloth" (as a cover for writing desks), dim. of O.Fr. bure "dark brown cloth," which is perhaps either from L. burrus "red," or from L.L. burra "wool, shaggy garment." Offices being full of such desks, the meaning expanded 1720 to "division of a government."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| bureau | |
noun | |
| 1. | an administrative unit of government; "the Central Intelligence Agency"; "the Census Bureau"; "Office of Management and Budget"; "Tennessee Valley Authority" [syn: agency] |
| 2. | furniture with drawers for keeping clothes [syn: chest of drawers] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This
Bureau County, IL (county, FIPS 11) Location: 41.40875 N, 89.52909 W
Population (1990): 35688 (14762 housing units)
Area: 2249.7 sq km (land), 12.3 sq km (water)
Bureau Junction, IL (village, FIPS 9681) Location: 41.28779 N, 89.36432 W
Population (1990): 350 (148 housing units)
Area: 3.7 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Bureau
Bu"reau\, n.; pl. E. Bureaus, F. Bureaux. [F. bureau a writing table, desk, office, OF., drugget, with which a writing table was often covered, equiv. to F. bure, and fr. OF. buire dark brown, the stuff being named from its color, fr. L. burrus red, fr. Gr. ? flame-colored, prob. fr. ? fire. See Fire, n., and cf. Borel, n.]1. Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers. --Swift. 2. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where business requiring writing is transacted. 3. Hence: A department of public business requiring a force of clerks; the body of officials in a department who labor under the direction of a chief. Note: On the continent of Europe, the highest departments, in most countries, have the name of bureaux; as, the Bureau of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In England and America, the term is confined to inferior and subordinate departments; as, the "Pension Bureau," a subdepartment of the Department of the Interior. [Obs.] In Spanish, bureo denotes a court of justice for the trial of persons belonging to the king's household. 4. A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an ornamental piece of furniture. [U.S.] Bureau system. See Bureaucracy. Bureau Veritas, an institution, in the interest of maritime underwriters, for the survey and rating of vessels all over the world. It was founded in Belgium in 1828, removed to Paris in 1830, and re["e]stablished in Brussels in 1870.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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