escritoire

American  

[es-kri-twahr] / ˌɛs krɪˈtwɑr /

noun

1. writing desk.

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escritoire British  

/ ˌɛskrɪˈtwɑː /

noun

1. a writing desk with compartments and drawers, concealed by a hinged flap, on a chest of drawers or plain stand

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Etymology

Origin of escritoire

1605–15; < French, Middle French < Latin scrīptōrium. See scribe ¹, -tory ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

escritoire

To the overbearing interior décor dictator in your life—he barges into your home, rearranges your escritoire, and fiddles with your tablescapes—give Hitler at Home, a new coffee-table book by Despina Stratigakos.

From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2015

I write on an outsize table, not a neat escritoire — as if I might be cutting film or pasting up collages.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2015

I write on an escritoire I found on Craigslist.

From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2014

The script reveals a fascination with the Oxford dictionary definition of the word "escritoire", as you might expect from two ambitious autodidacts.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2012

Next was proved the subsequent finding of a packet of arsenic by the Coroner, in a locked escritoire of the prisoner's, and of which the prisoner kept the keys about his person.

From Dilemmas of Pride, (Vol 3 of 3) by Loudon, Margracia