See Also: small office/home office(dictionary)
office(dictionary)
office boy(dictionary)
box office(dictionary)
Met Office, the(dictionary)
office(1)(dictionary)
Office(medicine)
office building(dictionary)
front office(dictionary)
head office(dictionary)

office(1) (iou) and RSA (medicine)


office(1) (iou)



office noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin officium (orig.) performance of a task, (in medieval Latin) office, rite, divine service, from comb. from opus work + fic-, facere do.]
A duty attaching to a person's position or Employment; a service or task to be performed; a person's business, function, or part. Formerly also, duty towards others; a moral obligation. ME.
C. V. Wedgwood He would himself perform the executioner's office.
b. An act of performing a duty or task or of doing a service. ME-E17.
A thing done or intended to be done by a particular thing; a thing's function. arch. ME.
b. A bodily or mental function; spec. the discharging of faeces or urine excretion. Long obsolete exc. in house of office s.v. HOUSE noun1. LME.
a. A position or place to which certain duties are attached, esp. one of a more or less public character; a position of trust, authority, or service. ME.
M. Hughes I have held this office for just six years.
b. Tenure of an official position, official Employment, spec. that of a minister of State or of the party forming a government (freq. in hold office, out of office). ME.
A. Bevan When in office the Conservatives reduce parliamentary intervention in economic processes. P. F. Boller When he left office, the United States was half again as large. fig.: Shakespeare Hamlet The insolence of office.
Ecclesiastical. An authorized form of divine service or worship; spec. (a) (more fully divine office) a non-Eucharistic service prescribed for daily use; (b) the introit sung while the priest approaches the altar to celebrate the Eucharist; the whole Eucharistic service; (c) an occasional service; a special form of service appointed for some particular occasion. ME.
H. Allen The voice of Brother Fran?ois saying the office for the dead. T. Keneally The nuns were..singing their office.
A ceremonial duty or service; a religious or social observance; esp. the rite or rites due to the dead, obsequies. Now chiefly in last office(s). LME.
A service done, a kindness, a piece of attention, esp. of a specified kind, as good office, kind office. LME.
J. Colville The kind offices of Lord Kemsley..might be solicited.
= inquest of office s.v. INQUEST 1. LME.
A room or building or Other place for business; a room or department for clerical or administrative work; a counting-house; a room or department for a particular business (freq. of a specified kind); a local centre of a large business or organization; N. Amer. a professional person's Consulting-room. Also, the staff of a particular office; the collective power or responsibility of the staff of a particular office. LME.
box office, Heralds' Office, inquiry office, land office, law office, patent office, post office, etc.
W. van T. Clark It's not the place of a judge. It lies in the sheriff's office. Day Lewis No.1 was a house-agent's office.
b. The company or corporation established in a particular place of business; esp. an insurance company. M17.
C. Marshall Some offices allow the policyholder to increase his sum assured.
c. (Office.) The building or set of rooms or Other place in which the business of a specified department of government administration is carried on; the staff of such a department, esp. the responsible head and senior officials; the collective power or responsibility of the staff of such a department. E18.
Colonial Office, Foreign Office, Home Office, India Office, Public Record Office, etc.
d. The cockpit of an aircraft. Aeronautics slang. E20.
a. In pl. The parts of a house, or buildings attached to a house, specially devoted to household work or service, or to storage etc. Also, the barns and outhouses of a farm. M16.
E. E. Evans The house and offices enclose a square..yard.
b. sing. & in pl. A privy, a lavatory. Freq. usual office(s). L17.
A hint, a signal, a private intimation. Esp. in give the office. slang. E19.
Phrases: find an office return a verdict in favour of the Crown at an inquest of office. front office: see FRONT noun, adjective, & adverb. head office: see HEAD noun & adjective. Holy Office: see HOLY adjective. inquest of office: see INQUEST 1. Jack-in-office, Jack out of office: see JACK noun1. office found a verdict in favour of the Crown at an inquest of office. office of arms the College of Arms; a similar body in a country Other than England or Wales. Oval Office: see OVAL adjective 1. PUBLIC office. the seals of office: see SEAL noun2.
Comb.: office-bearer a person who holds office; an officer, an official; office block a large building or block designed to contain offices; office boy, office girl a young man or woman employed to do minor Jobs in an office; office hours the hours of work at an office; the hours during which business is conducted; office-house (now rare) (a) = sense 9b above; (b) in pl. = sense 9a above; office hymn a hymn sung during the divine office; office junior the youngest or newest member of the staff of an office, employed esp. in minor Jobs; office-man (a) Scot. an officer, an official; (b) a man who works in an office; spec. (slang) a detective who remains at headquarters; office party a party held for members of the staff of an office; office wife colloq. a businessman's female secretary; office-worker an employee in an office, esp. engaged in clerical or administrative work.
officeful noun as many or as much as an office will hold M20.
officeless adjective (rare) having no office, out of office L15.

RSA (medicine)


RSA
<abbreviation> Right sacroanterior position.