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bureau

 - 3 dictionary results

bu⋅reau

  [byoor-oh]
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–noun, plural bu⋅reaus, bu⋅reaux  [byoor-ohz] .
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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bu·reau   (byŏŏr'ō)   
n.   pl. bu·reaus or bu·reaux (-ōz)

  1. A chest of drawers, especially a dresser for holding clothes.

  2. Chiefly British A writing desk or writing table with drawers.

    1. A government department or a subdivision of a department.

    2. An office, usually of a large organization, that is responsible for a specific duty: a news bureau.

    3. A business that offers information of a specified kind: a travel bureau.


[French, cloth cover for desks, desk, office, from Old French burel, woolen cloth, probably from Vulgar Latin *būra, from Late Latin burra, shaggy garment.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

bureau

in the United States, a chest of drawers; in Europe a writing desk, usually with a hinged writing flap that rests at a sloping angle when closed and, when opened, reveals a tier of pigeonholes, small drawers, and sometimes a small cupboard. The bureau (French: "office") first appeared in France at the beginning of the 17th century as just a flat table with drawers below the top, the bureau plat. By Louis XIV's reign, a kneehole type was in use, with a tier of drawers on each side and a single drawer in the centre above a space for the knees.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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