furniture

American  

[fur-ni-cher] / ˈfɜr nɪ tʃər /

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.

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furniture British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

• furnitureless adjective

Etymology

Origin of furniture

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

Example Sentences

Claire Mullen said the rats have destroyed her back garden and that she had to dump all of her garden furniture because it was so badly damaged.

From BBC

Parts of the walls were blown away, leaving piles of bricks, large concrete slabs and furniture strewn across the floor.

From BBC

Danish design company Vipp sells modular kitchens, furniture, lighting and accessories.

From The Wall Street Journal

STOCKHOLM—IKEA will close seven big box stores in China and focus more on small format outlets as it responds to economic challenges and moves to sell its furniture closer to its customers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Shoppers found discounts on higher-priced items such as electronics, furniture and appliances, driving up the total spending during the holidays.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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