BUREAU

agency, federal agency, government agency, bureau, office, authority

(noun) an administrative unit of government; “the Central Intelligence Agency”; “the Census Bureau”; “Office of Management and Budget”; “Tennessee Valley Authority”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Proper noun

Bureau

A surname.

Etymology

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

An administrative unit of government; office.

An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.

An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).

(chiefly, British) A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.

(US) A chest of drawers for clothes.

Source: Wiktionary

Bu"reau, n.; pl. E. Bureaus, F. Bureaux. Etym: [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. 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 reëstablished in Brussels in 1870.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition