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.

&fist; 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.]

• office
  
• desk, usually with a cover and compartments for storing papers etc. located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath
  
  Dutch
• desk
  
• office
  
  French
• desk
  
• office