Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A chest of drawers, especially a dresser for holding clothes.
- n. Chiefly British A writing desk or writing table with drawers.
- n. A government department or a subdivision of a department.
- n. An office, usually of a large organization, that is responsible for a specific duty: a news bureau.
- n. A business that offers information of a specified kind: a travel bureau.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A desk or writing-table with drawers for papers; an escritoire.
- n. A chest of drawers for holding clothes and other articles. Bureaus at the present day are commonly made with an adjustable mirror standing upon them. This is a comparatively modern practice, due to a combination of the functions of the chest of drawers and the toilet-table.
- n. An office or place where business is transacted.
- n. A department of government for the transaction of public business. In England the term is confined to inferior and subordinate departments, and in the United States to certain subdivisions of some of the executive departments.
- n. A division of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor, charged with a general superintendence of many matters connected with the merchant marine.
Wiktionary
- n. office
- n. desk, usually with a cover and compartments for storing papers etc. located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath
- n. chest of drawers for clothes
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers.
- n. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where business requiring writing is transacted.
- n. 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.
- n. A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an ornamental piece of furniture.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an administrative unit of government
- n. furniture with drawers for keeping clothes
Etymologies
- French, cloth cover for desks, desk, office, from Old French burel, woolen cloth, probably from Vulgar Latin *būra, from Late Latin burra, shaggy garment.
Examples
“Because the FBI has been finding it difficult to wiretap in some cases, the bureau is also considering making the carriers pay for eavesdropping when the tapping gets complicated.”
The Huffington Post: Susan Landau: The FBI Wiretap Plan: Upsetting the Security Equation
“The bureau is permitted to share this data with whomever theywish.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Concerns About Privacy In Financial Reg Bill:
“If they run out the clock before the agency or bureau is dissolved, they are not affected byit.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Help Draft the Federalism Restoration Amendment
“Any person who works for the eliminated agency or bureau cannot be hired by the federal government for a period of 5 years after that agency or bureau is dissolved.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Help Draft the Federalism Restoration Amendment
“Police precincts are closing, the permit bureau is being decimated by layoffs, budgets are being slashed ...”
“As far as the beating that the police gave Chasse, and the hog-tying and the neglect of his many broken ribs and bleeding from the mouth, that was all o.k. -- within bureau policy, you know.”
“We called her bureau to inform them of the epidemic, and they said they have assigned her to a new house, the Bowings, a family of six over on the West Side.”
“The ongoing contraction of the police bureau is absurd.”
“What: Jul 19, 2008 outlines Congresswoman Jackie Speier's 100th day in bureau since being sworn in upon April 10th.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bureau’.
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