noun originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers.
2. bureau ·noun a chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an ornamental piece of furniture.
3. bureau ·noun the place where such a bureau is used; an office where business requiring writing is transacted.
4. bureau ·noun 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.