different between bureau vs bender

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek ????????? (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

Pronunciation

• enPR: byo?or??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.??/
• enPR: byo?or??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.?/
• (US) enPR: by?r??, by?r??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.o?/, /?bj??.?/
• (New England)
• Rhymes: -?????, Rhymes: -????
• Rhymes: -?????
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

1. An administrative unit of government; office.
   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns

     Ashley Johnson is an energy, trade and economics expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research, based in the United States.

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

3. An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
   • 2015, Victoria Delderfield, Secret Mother:

     There was an eerie silence in the dorm [... in] the factory. [...] The lamp glowed in his bureau, warm and reassuring and, through the window, I could see his papers strewn across the desk. [...] I called his name again. A movement from his bureau. [...] I banged on his door until it opened a crack[. ...] He pushed me out onto the staircase. "Get out," he screamed. The door to his bureau slammed in my face.
4. (chiefly Britain) 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.
5. (US) A chest of drawers for clothes.

Derived terms

• bureau de change
• QSL bureau

Related terms

• bureaucracy
• bureaucrat
• bureaucratic
• bureaugamy
• burel

Translations

Further reading

• bureau in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• bureau in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Dutch

Alternative forms

• buro (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from French bureau, from Middle French burel, from Old French burel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by?ro?/
• Hyphenation: bu?reau
• Rhymes: -o?

Noun

bureau n (plural bureaus, diminutive bureautje n)

1. desk [from 18th c.]
2. office [from late 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (desk): schrijftafel
• (office): bureel, kantoor

Derived terms

• bureaula
• bureaulamp
• burotica
• consultatiebureau
• politiebureau
• reclamebureau

Related terms

• bureel

Descendants

• Afrikaans: buro
• ? Indonesian: biro

French

Etymology

From Old French burel, diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek ????????? (berbérion, “shabby garment”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by.?o/

Noun

bureau m (plural bureaux)

1. desk
2. office (room)
3. ticket office
4. the staff of an office
5. office; an administrative unit
6. (obsolete) frieze (coarse woolen cloth)

Derived terms

Related terms

• bourre
• bourgeon

Descendants

Further reading

• “bureau” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

bend +? -er. In sense of “heavy drinking”, originally generally “spree”, from 1846, of uncertain origin – vague contemporary sense of “something extraordinary”, connection to bend (e.g., bending elbow to drink) or perhaps from Scottish sense of “strong drinker”.

A sixpence was known as a bender because its silver content made it easy to bend in the hands. This was commonly done to create ‘love tokens’, many of which survive in collections to this day. The value of a sixpence was also enough to get thoroughly inebriated as taverns would often allow you to drink all day for tuppence. This gave rise to the expression ‘going on a bender’.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?nd?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?nd?/
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)

Noun

bender (plural benders)

1. One who, or that which, bends.
2. A device to aid bending of pipes to a specific angle.
3. (slang) A bout of heavy drinking.

   He's been out on a bender with his mates.

   • 1857, Newspaper, April:

     A couple of students of Williams College went over to North Adams on a bender. This would have been serious matter under the best of circumstances, but each returned with a “brick in his hat,” etc.

4. (chiefly Britain, slang, derogatory) A homosexual man.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 6,

     “So they're easy about having a bender in the house, are they, their lordships?”

5. A simple shelter, made using flexible branches or withies
6. (Britain, slang) A suspended sentence.
   • 2015, Olly Jarvis, Death by Dangerous (page 81)

     'Oh and Gary, what happened in Ahmed?' 'Not guilty, sir.' 'Oh no! And Tredwell?' 'Bender.' 'Suspended sentence? So both walked. […]

   • 2019, Howard Williamson, Youth and Policy: Contexts and Consequences

     He anticipated a prison sentence though he thought there was a slight possibility of 'getting off on a bender' (suspended sentence).

7. (obsolete, Britain, slang) A sixpence.
8. (obsolete, slang, US) A spree, a frolic.
9. (obsolete, slang, US) Something exceptional.

Usage notes

In sense “bout of heavy drinking”, usually in form “on a bender”.

Synonyms

• (bout of heavy drinking): binge, spree, toot
• (homosexual man): See Thesaurus:male homosexual
• (shelter): bender tent

Derived terms

• conduit bender
• gender bender
• pipe bender

Translations

Interjection

bender

1. (obsolete, British slang) Used to express disbelief or doubt at what one has just heard. [early 19th c.]
2. (obsolete, British slang) Used to indicate that the previous phrase was meant sarcastically or ironically. [early 19th c.]

Synonyms

• (disbelief): See Thesaurus:bullshit
• (sarcasm): I don't think, not

References

• Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, p. 96
• Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of the Underworld, London, Macmillan Co., 1949

Anagrams

• Berden, berend, rebend

Aragonese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

bender

1. (transitive) to sell

References

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002) , “bender”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, ?ISBN