Bureaus

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     2. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where
        business requiring writing is transacted.
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     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.
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     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.
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     4. A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an
        ornamental piece of furniture. [U.S.]
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     {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.
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