office

English Online Dictionary. What means office‎? What does office mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)). The use in reference to office software is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒfɪs/
• (General American, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔfɪs/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑfɪs/
• Hyphenation: of‧fice
• Rhymes: -ɒfɪs

Noun

office (plural offices)

1. (religion) A ceremonial duty or service, particularly:
   1. (Christianity) The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church.
   2. (Christianity) Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin.
   3. (Christianity) A daily service without the eucharist.
   4. (Catholicism) The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.

      In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.
   5. (Protestantism) Various prayers used with modification as a morning or evening service.
   6. (Christianity) Last rites.
   7. (Christianity, obsolete) Mass, (particularly) the introit sung at its beginning.
2. A position of responsibility.

   Hypernyms: role; rank

   • 1787, United States Constitution, Article II, §1:

     I do solemnly swear... that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

3. Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.

   Hypernyms: role; rank
4. A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; (obsolete, rare) moral duty.
5. (archaic) Function: anything typically done by or expected of something.
6. (now usually in plural) A service, a kindness.
   • 1575, Elizabeth I, letter:

     ...which we have hitherto forborne to graunt... for the evell offices whiche her other Secretary did there.
7. (figuratively, slang) Inside information.
8. A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work, particularly:

   The office of the Secretary of State is cleaned when it is vacant.

   1. A room, set of rooms, or building used for administration and bookkeeping.
   2. A room, set of rooms, or building used for selling services or tickets to the public.
      • 1819 September 22, John Keats, letter to Reynolds:

        There will be some of the family waiting for you at the coach-office.

   3. (chiefly US, medicine) A room, set of rooms, or building used for consultation and diagnosis, but not surgery or other major procedures.
9. (figuratively) The staff of such places.

10. (figuratively, in large organizations) The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly:

    He's from our public relations office.

    1. (UK, Australia, usually capitalized, with clarifying modifier) A ministry or other department of government.

       The secretary of state's British colleague heads the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

    2. (Catholicism, usually capitalized) Short for Holy Office: the court of final appeal in cases of heresy.
    3. A particular place of business of a larger white-collar business.

       He worked as the receptionist at the Akron office.
11. (now in the plural, dated) The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly (euphemistic, dated) a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
    • 1720, William Willymott translating Francis Bacon as "Of Building" in Lord Bacons Essays, Vol. I, page 283:

      As for the Offices, let them stand at some Distance from the House, with some low covered Galleries, to pass from them to the Palace it self.
12. (UK law, historical) Clipping of inquest of office:
13. (obsolete) A piece of land used for hunting; the area of land overseen by a gamekeeper.
14. (figuratively, slang, obsolete) A hangout: a place where one is normally found.
15. (UK military slang, dated) A plane's cockpit, particularly an observer's cockpit.
16. (computing) A collection of business software typically including a word processor and spreadsheet and slideshow programs.
17. (obsolete) An official or group of officials; (figuratively) a personification of officeholders.
18. (obsolete) A bodily function, (particularly) urination and defecation; an act of urination or defecation.
    • 1764 August 5, David Garrick, letter:

      I never, since I left England, till now, have regal'd Myself with a good house of Office... the holes in Germany are... too round, chiefly owing... to the broader bottoms of the Germans.
19. (obsolete) The performance of a duty; an instance of performing a duty.

Usage notes

• In reference to professional services, the term office is used with somewhat greater scope in American English, which speaks of doctor's offices etc., where British English generally prefers particular words such as surgery.

Synonyms

• (religious ritual): service, divine service, religious service, liturgy
• (Catholic ritual): Divine Office, breviary, Liturgy of the Hours, liturgy of the hours, canonical hours
• (position of responsibility): See Thesaurus:office
• (place of work): workplace, workstead, practice
• (doctor's office): surgery (UK)
• (major governmental division): department, ministry, bureau
• (facilities for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Hyponyms

• (position of responsibility): See Thesaurus:office
• (site of non-manual work): ticket office, box office (selling tickets); post office (governmental mail services)

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

office (third-person singular simple present offices, present participle officing, simple past and past participle officed)

1. To provide (someone) with an office.
2. (intransitive) To have an office.

References

• Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 7th ed. "office". G. & C. Merriam Co. (Springfield), 1967.
• The Century Dictionary. "office". The Century Co. (New York), 1911.

Anagrams

• coiffe

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin officium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.fis/

Noun

office m (plural offices)

1. charge, task, mandate
2. administrative bureau, department
3. religious service, notably liturgical office

Derived terms

• couteau d’office
• faire office de
• office des Grandes Heures
• office de tourisme

Noun

office f (plural offices)

1. pantry, room adjoining a kitchen where dishes, table linens, and provisions are kept

2. place where a household's table (food and drink)-related services are conducted, especially by domestic staff

References

• Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition

Further reading

• “office”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• coiffe, coiffé

Latin

Verb

office

1. second-person singular present active imperative of officiō

Noun

office

1. ablative singular of offex

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French office, from Latin officium, contracted form of opificium.

Alternative forms

• offiz, offis, offyce, ofys, offise, ofice, offece, offys

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔˈfiːs(ə)/, /ˈɔfis(ə)/

Noun

office (plural offices)

1. The state of being employed or having a work or job; employment:
   1. Ecclesiastical or religious work; a church career.
   2. (rare) Unskilled work; any work that is unimportant or base.
2. A position of responsibility or control; a crucial occupation:
   • c. 1300, St. Thomas Becket, ll. 244 ff.

   1. A clerical or church post or position; a religious office.
   2. A governmental or administrative position or post; a political office.
      • c. 1300, St. Thomas Becket, ll. 223 ff.

   3. The situation, status, or rank one has in the wider world or within society.
3. A task, chore or assignment, especially one which is important or required; an obligation:
   1. The role, purpose, or intended use or utility of something (especially a bodily part).
      • c. 1390, John Gower, Confessio Amantis, Book VII, ll. 467 ff.:

      • c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe" in Tales of Caunterbury, ll. 127 ff.:

   2. A task or function that one organ does to assist another or the body as a whole.
   3. A religious ceremony or ritual; a task performed for religious reasons.
      • a. 1300, Arthour & Merlin, ll. 2758 ff.:

   4. (Christianity) The beginning or the initial portion of the Eucharist.
      • c. 1300, St. Thomas Becket, ll. 942 ff.:

   5. A core human faculty (e.g. movement, talking, literacy)
4. A part, faculty, or division of a larger body:
   1. A part of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage.
      • a. 1422, petition, P.R.O. 117, 5842:

   2. A part or subdivision of an estate devoted to a specified function.
   3. (rare) A part or subdivision of a government devoted to a specified function.
      • 1435, petition, P.R.O. 130, 6460A:

5. An inquest undertaken to investigate the possession of land or property.
   • 1432, petition, P.R.O. 26, 1259:

6. The intended or ideal working or operation of something.
7. An officeholder invested with powers and authority.
8. (rare) A building or structure used for business purposes; an office.
9. (rare) The process or undertaking of a task or assignment.
   • c. 1300, The Romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun, ll. 3555 ff.:

10. (rare) The activities typical of and concomitant to one's place in society.
11. (rare) A favour; a beneficial deed or act.

Related terms

• officen
• officer
• official

Descendants

• English: office
• Scots: office, offish

References

• “offī̆ce, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-17.

Etymology 2

From Old French officier.

Verb

office

1. Alternative form of officen

Norman

Noun

office m (plural offices)

1. (Jersey) office

Old French

Noun

office oblique singular, m (oblique plural offices, nominative singular offices, nominative plural office)

1. office (building; room)
2. office (position, role, job)
3. service

Descendants

• French: office

References

• office on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub