Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Bureau"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Bureau \Bu"reau\, n.; pl. E. {Bureaus}, F. {Bureaux}. [F. bureau
a writing table, desk, office, OF., drugget, with which a
writing table was often covered, equiv. to F. bure, and fr.
OF. buire dark brown, the stuff being named from its color,
fr. L. burrus red, fr. Gr. ? flame-colored, prob. fr. ? fire.
See {Fire}, n., and cf. {Borel}, n.]
1. Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for
papers. --Swift.

2. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where
business requiring writing is transacted.

3. Hence: A department of public business requiring a force
of clerks; the body of officials in a department who labor
under the direction of a chief.

Note: On the continent of Europe, the highest departments, in
most countries, have the name of bureaux; as, the
Bureau of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In England
and America, the term is confined to inferior and
subordinate departments; as, the ``Pension Bureau,'' a
subdepartment of the Department of the Interior. [Obs.]
In Spanish, bureo denotes a court of justice for the
trial of persons belonging to the king's household.

4. A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an
ornamental piece of furniture. [U.S.]

{Bureau system}. See {Bureaucracy}.

{Bureau Veritas}, an institution, in the interest of maritime
underwriters, for the survey and rating of vessels all
over the world. It was founded in Belgium in 1828, removed
to Paris in 1830, and re["e]stablished in Brussels in
1870.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

bureau
n 1: an administrative unit of government; "the Central
Intelligence Agency"; "the Census Bureau"; "Office of
Management and Budget"; "Tennessee Valley Authority"
[syn: {agency}, {federal agency}, {government agency}, {office},
{authority}]
2: furniture with drawers for keeping clothes [syn: {chest of
drawers}, {chest}, {dresser}]


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