FluentPlex

desk

/dɛsk/ noun A1
  1. A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a drawer or repository underneath. · She organized her notes neatly on her desk before starting the project.· The desk was cluttered with papers and books, making it hard to concentrate.
  2. A reading table or lectern to support the book from which the liturgical service is read, differing from the pulpit from which the sermon is preached; also (especially in the United States), a pulpit. Hence, used symbolically for the clerical profession.
  3. A department tasked with a particular topic or focus in certain types of businesses, such as newspapers and financial trading firms. · the city desk, the sports desk· the options desk, the equities desk
  4. A station for a string player in an orchestra, consisting of a chair and a music stand, or a row of such stations. · The first four desks of cellos play separate parts, making a lush, Impressionist harmony.

Plural desks

+ Save to review

From the library

He had entered Villefort’s office expecting that the magistrate would tremble at the sight of him; on the contrary, he felt a cold shudder all over him when he saw Villefort sitting there with his elbow on his desk, and his head leaning on his hand.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 120 · C1
Sit at this desk and write to my dictation.
Sherlock Holmes: The Bruce-Partington Plans, p. 39 · B2
It was a small tin cash-box which stood upon the writing-desk.
Sherlock Holmes: The Bruce-Partington Plans, p. 32 · B2
“Oh, sire,” replied the minister, “we have no occasion to invent any; every day our desks are loaded with most circumstantial denunciations, coming from hosts of people who hope for some return for services which they seek to render, but cannot; they trust to fortune, and rely upon some unexpected event in some way to justify their predictions.”
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 93 · C1

Other matches

Learn desk in real texts

With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.

Create free account
Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.