1.Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers.
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.)
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