\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.
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 re["e]stablished in Brussels in
   1870.