# bureau

Pronunciation: say "BYUU-roh" US /ˈbjʊ.ɹoʊ/, UK /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/

## Noun

1. A government office or administrative unit, such as a department or agency.
   - Simple: A part of a government that does a certain kind of work.
   - _The Census Bureau released new population figures for every county this morning._
   - _Funding cuts forced the bureau to close three of its regional offices._
2. An office or organization whose work is gathering or supplying information or news.
   - Simple: An office or group that collects or gives out news or information.
   - _The network's Washington bureau broke the story an hour before its rivals._
   - _The newspaper closed its Paris bureau last year and now relies on wire services for news from France._
3. A chest of drawers used for storing clothes. *(US)*
   - Simple: A piece of furniture with drawers where you keep your clothes.
   - _She folded the sweaters and stacked them in the bottom drawer of her bureau._
   - _The antique oak bureaus in the guest rooms still had their original brass pulls._
4. A writing desk, usually with a cover and with compartments set above the writing surface rather than below it, often used for storing papers. *(British)*
   - Simple: A desk, often with a lid, that has small spaces for papers above the part where you write.
   - _She lowered the flap of the walnut bureau and sorted the household accounts into its pigeonholes._
   - _The auction included a Georgian mahogany bureau with a fitted interior of small drawers._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An office: a room where clerical or professional work is done.

## Origin

English uses the French word bureau unchanged. In French it first meant a coarse cloth, such as baize, laid over a desk. It goes back to Old French burel ("woolen cloth"), a diminutive of *bure (related to Middle French bure, a "coarse cloth of wool," and French bourre, "fluff, hair"), and further to Late Latin burra ("coarse fabric, shaggy cloth, wool, fluff"). Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, "shabby garment") is akin. Burel and borrel, which came from Old French, are doublets.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bureau (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).