bureau

[byoor-oh]

noun

plural

bureaus, bureaux 

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.

bureau

/ ˈbjʊərəʊ /

noun

1. a writing desk with pigeonholes, drawers, etc, against which the writing surface can be closed when not in use

2. a chest of drawers

3. an office or agency, esp one providing services for the public

4. 1. a government department

   2. a branch of a government department

Other Word Forms

• subbureau noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bureau¹

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 ; bourrée ) + -el noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of bureau¹

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

Example Sentences

In just one week in October, he ticked off his bosses with premature comments about a terror investigation and squeezed in a trip to the ‘Boondoggle Ranch’ on the bureau jet.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

MS NOW executives say they remain committed to covering breaking news, staffing the channel’s own Washington bureau and entering news-gathering agreements with Sky for international coverage and AccuWeather.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He shifted to television three years later at KPIX-TV, where he was the San Jose bureau chief.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The FBI director is required by law to take the bureau’s private plane instead of commercial flights in order to have access to secure communications.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Among them was "a businessman -- the head of the criminal organisation", the bureau added, without naming him -- an apparent reference to Mindich, who was earlier identified by the prosecutors as the mastermind of the scheme.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• agency 
• authority 
• board 
• commission 
• committee 
• department 
• division 
• office