Office - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Office :  (noun)
1: place of business where professional or clerical duties are performed; "he rented an office in the new building" [syn: business office]
2: an administrative unit of government; "the Central Intelligence Agency"; "the Census Bureau"; "Office of Management and Budget"; "Tennessee Valley Authority" [syn: agency, federal agency, government agency, bureau, authority]
3: the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group; "the function of a teacher"; "the government must do its part"; "play its role" [syn: function, part, role]
4: (of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power; "being in office already gives a candidate a great advantage"; "during his first year in office"; "during his first year in power"; "the power of the president" [syn: power]
5: professional or clerical workers in an office; "the whole office was late the morning of the blizzard" [syn: office staff]
6: a religious rite or service prescribed by ecclesiastical authorities; "the offices of the mass"
7: a job in an organization; "he occupied a post in the treasury" [syn: position, post, berth, spot, billet, place, situation]

Based on WordNet 2.0

Office : \Of"fice\, n. [F., fr. L. officium, for opificium; ops ability, wealth, holp _ facere to do or make. See Opulent, Fact.] 1. That which a person does, either voluntarily or by appointment, for, or with reference to, others; customary duty, or a duty that arises from the relations of man to man; as, kind offices, pious offices.

I would I could do a good office between you. --Shak.

2. A special duty, trust, charge, or position, conferred by authority and for a public purpose; a position of trust or authority; as, an executive or judical office; a municipal office.

3. A charge or trust, of a sacred nature, conferred by God himself; as, the office of a priest under the old dispensation, and that of the apostles in the new.

Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. --Rom. xi. 13.

4. That which is performed, intended, or assigned to be done, by a particular thing, or that which anything is fitted to perform; a function; -- answering to duty in intelligent beings.

They [the eyes] resign their office and their light. --Shak.

Hesperus, whose office is to bring Twilight upon the earth. --Milton.

In this experiment the several intervals of the teeth of the comb do the office of so many prisms. --Sir I. Newton.

5. The place where a particular kind of business or service for others is transacted; a house or apartment in which public officers and others transact business; as, the register's office; a lawyer's office.

6. The company or corporation, or persons collectively, whose place of business is in an office; as, I have notified the office.

7. pl. The apartments or outhouses in which the domestics discharge the duties attached to the service of a house, as kitchens, pantries, stables, etc. [Eng.]

As for the offices, let them stand at distance. --Bacon.

8. (Eccl.) Any service other than that of ordination and the Mass; any prescribed religious service.

This morning was read in the church, after the office was done, the declaration setting forth the late conspiracy against the king's person. --Evelyn.

Holy office. Same as Inquisition, n., 3.

Houses of office. Same as def. 7 above. --Chaucer.

Little office (R.C.Ch.), an office recited in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Office bearer, an officer; one who has a specific office or duty to perform.

Office copy (Law), an authenticated or certified copy of a record, from the proper office. See Certified copies, under Copy. --Abbott.

Office-found (Law), the finding of an inquest of office. See under Inquest.

Office holder. See Officeholder in the Vocabulary

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Office : \Of`fice\, v. t. To perform, as the duties of an office; to discharge. [Obs.] --Shak.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

OFFICE. AnOffice : is a right to exercise a public function or employment, and to take the fees and emoluments belonging to it,. Shelf. on Mortm. 797; Cruise, Dig. Index, h.t.; 3 Serg. & R. 149. 2. Offices may be classed into civil and military. 3.-1. Civil offices may be classed into political, judicial, and ministerial. 4.-1. The political offices are such as are not connected immediately with the administration of justice, or the execution of the mandates of a superior officer; the office of the president of the United States, of the heads of departments, of the members of the legislature, are of this number. 5.-2. The judicial offices are those which relate to the administration of justice, and which must be exercised by persons of sufficient skill and experience in the duties which appertain to them. 6.-3. Ministerial offices are those which give the officer no power to judge of the matter to be done, and require him to obey the mandates of a superior. 7 Mass. 280. See 5 Wend. 170; 10 Wend. 514; 8 Vern. 512; Breese, 280. It is a general rule, that a judicial office cannot be exercised by deputy, while a ministerial may. 7. In the United, States, the tenure of office never extends beyond good behaviour. In England, offices are public or private. The former affect the people generally, the latter are such as concern particular districts, belonging to private individuals. In the United States, all offices, according to the above definition, are public; but in another sense, employments of a private nature are also called offices; for example, the office of president of a bank, the office of director of a corporation. For the incompatibility of office, see Incompatibility; 4 S. & R. 277; 4 Inst. 100; Com. Dig. h.t., B. 7; and vide, generally, 3 Kent, Com. 362; Cruise, Dig. tit. 25; Ham. N. P. 283; 16 Vin. Ab. 101; Ayliffe's Parerg. 395; Poth. Traite des Choses, Sec. 2; Amer. Dig. h.t.; 17 S. & R. 219. 8.-2. Military offices consist of such as are granted to soldiers or naval officers. 9. The room in which the business of an officer is transacted is also called an office, as the land office. Vide Officer.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

OFFICE, INQUEST OF. An examination into a matter by an officer in virtue of his office. Vide Inquisition.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

OFFICER. He who is lawfully invested with an office. 2. Officers may be classed into, 1. Executive; as the president of the United States of America, the several governors of the different states. Their duties are pointed out in the national constitution, and the constitutions of the several states, but they are required mainly to cause the laws to be executed and obeyed. 3.-2. The legislative; such as members of congress; and of the several state legislatures. These officers are confined in their duties by the constitution, generally to make laws, though sometimes in cases of impeachment, one of the houses of the legislature exercises judicial functions, somewhat similar to those of a grand jury by presenting to the other articles of impeachment; and the other house acts as a court in trying such impeachments. The legislatures have, besides the power to inquire into the conduct of their members, judge of their elections, and the like. 4.-3. Judicial officers; whose duties are to decide controversies between individuals, and accusations made in the name of the public against persons charged with a violation of the law. 5.-4. Ministerial officers, or those whose duty it is to execute the mandates, lawfully issued, of their superiors. 6.-5. Military officers, who have commands in the army; and 7.-6. Naval officers, who are in command in the navy. 8. Officers are required to exercise the functions which belong to their respective offices. The neglect to do so, may, in some cases, subject the offender to an indictment; 1 Yeates, R. 519; and in others, he will be liable to the party injured. 1 Yeates, R. 506. 9. Officers are also divided into public officers and those who are not public. Some officers may bear both characters; for example, a clergyman is a public officer when he acts in the performance of such a public duty as the marriage of two individuals; 4 Conn. 209; and he is merely a private person when he acts in his more ordinary calling of teaching his congregation. See 4 Conn. 134; 1 Apple. 155.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

Office : 

Microsoft Office



Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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