bureau
[byoo r-oh]
- a chest of drawers, often with a mirror at the top.
- a division of a government department or an independent administrative unit.
- an office for collecting or distributing news or information, coordinating work, or performing specified services; agency: a travel bureau; a news bureau.
- Chiefly British. a desk or writing table with drawers for papers.
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Origin of bureau
1710–20; < French: desk, office, originally a kind of cloth (used to cover desks, etc.), Anglo-French, Old French burel, equivalent to bur- (probably < *būra, variant of Late Latin burra wool, fluff; cf. bourrée) + -el noun suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
divisionofficeagencyauthoritycommissionboardcommitteedepartmentshopsetupstoreservicesideboardchiffonierdeskcommodedresserhighboyExamples from the Web for bureau
Contemporary Examples
The Bureau keeps publicly condemning Pyongyang for the Sony hack.
FBI Won’t Stop Blaming North Korea for Sony Hack -- Despite New EvidenceShane Harris
December 30, 2014
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said that the bureau fully complies with U.S. policy as it relates to ransom payments.
They say the Department of Justice, the parent agency of the Bureau of Prisons, has reimbursed Treasury for those costs.
JPMorgan, Treasury and the Bureau of Prisons declined to provide a current fee schedule for the cards.
A copy of AA Today, an Alcoholics Anonymous publication, rested atop the bureau.
Historical Examples
I am writing this on the bureau, so that when I lift my eyes I may see It.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
And I know that since the death of Maman Theresa they had hid it in one of the bureau drawers.
The DreamEmile Zola
Beaufort rose with a desperate effort; he moved to the bureau.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
They undressed again, and Dan put his gun away in his bureau.
The Inn at the Red OakLatta Griswold
I think that she still contemplated appearing in it at the Bureau.
Southern Lights and ShadowsVarious
bureau
- mainly British a writing desk with pigeonholes, drawers, etc, against which the writing surface can be closed when not in use
- US a chest of drawers
- an office or agency, esp one providing services for the public
- a government department
- a branch of a government department
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Word Origin
C17: from French: desk, office, originally: type of cloth used for covering desks and tables, from Old French burel, from Late Latin burra shaggy cloth
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bureau
n.
1690s, "desk with drawers, writing desk," from French bureau "office; desk, writing table," originally "cloth covering for a desk," from burel "coarse woolen cloth" (as a cover for writing desks), Old French diminutive of bure "dark brown cloth," which is perhaps either from Latin burrus "red," or from Late Latin burra "wool, shaggy garment." Offices being full of such desks, the meaning expanded 1720 to "division of a government." Meaning "chest of drawers" is from 1770, said to be American English but early in British use.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper