orderly room

American

noun

the administrative office of a small military unit.

orderly room British

noun

military a room in the barracks of a battalion or company used for general administrative purposes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of orderly room

Probably earlier than 1975–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I told him to wait in the orderly room and finished counseling the rest of the company.

From Salon • Aug. 15, 2018

The other in a perfectly straight and orderly room.

From Forbes • Aug. 13, 2014

Three hours later he turned up at the orderly room with two German prisoners in tow.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sergeants made up excuses to drift into the orderly room, drifted out unsatisfied.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the other side of the canal, evenly spaced, white-painted stones marked out a path to a hut being used as an orderly room.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023