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

Partridge had heard Kate’s spirits make the sounds of a ship at sea and had watched as furniture mysteriously drifted about the parlor.

From Literature

Several residents who had to abandon their homes returned to the neighborhood to retrieve furniture, appliances, mattresses, and even pets they had left behind.

From Barron's

Businesses like Home Depot and Lowe’s that sell furniture and appliances would also likely benefit.

From The Wall Street Journal

The demand is all the more surprising given that home sales—a big driver of furniture and appliance imports—are sputtering.

From The Wall Street Journal

Mexican media outlets published images of the cabin's luxurious interior, showing furniture with open drawers and unmade beds.

From Barron's

Related Words

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