bureau

A chest of drawers and an office, which are two of the meanings of the word bureau, do not seem to have much of a connection. In French, from which we have borrowed the word, bureau originally referred to a piece of rough cloth used to protect the surface of a desk. But its meaning expanded so that it could also refer to the desk itself, and to the room containing the desk, that is, an office. On some bureaus with lots of drawers the writing surface could be raised and closed to form a slanting top. In the United States a chest of drawers without any writing surface came to be called a bureau.