Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.