furniture

[fur-ni-cher]

noun

1. the movable articles, as tables, chairs, desks or cabinets, required for use or ornament in a house, office, or the like.

2. fittings, apparatus, or necessary accessories for something.

3. equipment for streets and other public areas, as lighting standards, signs, benches, or litter bins.

4. Also called bearer. Also called dead metal. Printing.,  pieces of wood or metal, less than type high, set in and about pages of type to fill them out and hold the type in place in a chase.

furniture

/ ˈfɜːnɪtʃə /

noun

1. the movable, generally functional, articles that equip a room, house, etc

2. the equipment necessary for a ship, factory, etc

3. printing lengths of wood, plastic, or metal, used in assembling formes to create the blank areas and to surround the type

4. the wooden parts of a rifle

5. obsolete,  the full armour, trappings, etc, for a man and horse

6. the attitudes or characteristics that are typical of a person or thing

   the furniture of the murderer's mind

7. informal,  someone or something that is so long established in an environment as to be accepted as an integral part of it

   he has been here so long that he is part of the furniture

8. See door furniture street furniture

Other Word Forms

• furnitureless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of furniture¹

1520–30; < French fourniture, derivative of fournir to furnish

Word History and Origins

Origin of furniture¹

C16: from French fourniture , from fournir to equip, _furnish

Example Sentences

She got hers from a flea market, but it has becoming ever easier to buy knockoff furniture and home goods online.

Read more on Barron's

One of the other bedrooms features a blue wall and patterned furniture.

Read more on MarketWatch

Fall is a busy time for trucking companies as retailers and manufacturers move clothes, furniture and electronics from ports and factories to warehouses, distribution centers and stores for the year-end holidays.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

For example, Art Deco furniture was often bulky, its light fittings were meant for high ceilings, and its dressing tables too elaborate for today's compact apartments.

Read more on BBC

“Moving means canceling subscriptions, possibly furniture, cars. The whole nine yards,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• appliance 
• bed 
• bookcase 
• chair 
• couch 
• desk 
• equipment 
• goods 
• sofa 
• table