Other

bureau

Syllabification: (bu·reau)

Pronunciation: /ˈbyo͝orō/

Definition of bureau

1a chest of drawers.
British a writing desk with drawers and typically an angled top opening downward to form a writing surface.

2 (abbreviation: bur.) an office or department for transacting particular business:a news bureau the London bureau of the Washington Post
a government department:the intelligence bureau

Origin:

late 17th century: from French, originally 'baize' (used to cover writing desks), from Old French burel, probably from bure 'dark brown'

Spell bureau with -eau at the end; the plural can be spelled either bureaus or bureaux (as in the original French).

Definition of bureau in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

More results for bureau

More words in this category