▪ I. desk, n.
(dɛsk)
Also 5–6 deske, (5–7 desque, 6 dexe, dext), 6–8 Sc. dask.
[ME. deske, app. immed. ad. med.L. desca ‘cum descis et scamnis, et aliis ornamentis’ (c 1250 in Du Cange). The latter is to be referred ultimately to L. discus (also used in med.L. in the sense ‘table’), of which the regular Romanic form remains in It. desco ‘a deske, a table, a boord, a counting boord; also a forme, a bench, a seat, or stoole’ (Florio). Prob. from this It. desco, the med.L. desca fem. (like mensa, tabula) was formed.
Desk was in no way actually connected with dish, OE. disc, ME. disch, although OE. disc, WGer. disk, was itself an ancient adoption of L. discus. The OFr. repr. of L. discus, Rom. desco, Pr. des, was deis, Eng. dais. Thus dais, desk, dish, disk, all originate in the same word.]
1. An article of furniture for a library, study, church, school, or office, the essential feature of which is a table, board, or the like, intended to serve as a rest for a book, manuscript, writing-paper, etc., while reading or writing, for which purpose the surface usually presents a suitable slope.
The name is applied to articles differing greatly in details of construction and in accessories, according to their particular purpose, which is often indicated by a qualification, as litany-desk, music-desk, prayer-desk, reading-desk, school-desk, writing-desk, etc.
It may be a simple table, board, or shelf fixed at a convenient height for resting a book, etc., while reading or writing, or fitted on a small frame so as to be placed on a table, or upon a taller frame, with legs, etc., so as itself to stand on the floor, or it may be more or less elaborately provided with shelves for books, and with drawers and receptacles for papers, documents, etc., such as are required for use in a library, study, school, or office.
a. As a requisite for reading or writing on, or studying at.
| c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 400 At Orliens in studie a book he say Of Magyk natureel, which his felawe..Hadde prively vpon his desk [v.r. deske] ylaft. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 299 Leterone or lectorne, deske, lectrinum, etc. a 1500 Orol. Sap. in Anglia X. 356 Lenynge hym vpon a deske. 1581 Mulcaster Positions v. (1887) 34 Incke and paper..a deske and a dustboxe will set them both vp [i.e. a scholar to learn to draw as well as to write]. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho., Diuerse Exper. 39 You must have a deske of the cleerest and evenest glasse that is to be bought..Upon this Deske you must fasten the patterne at the foure endes with a little wax. 1615 Stephens Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2) 333 Lawyers Clarke..Hee doth relye upon his maisters practise, large indentures, and a deske to write upon. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 213, I observed the desk which he hath [made] to remove, and is fastened to one of the armes of his chayre. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 109 ¶5 He sits with one Hand on a Desk writing. 1773 Johnson 17 Aug. in Boswell, Composing a Dictionary requires books and a desk: you can make a poem walking in the fields, or lying in bed. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, Nickleby closed an account book which lay on his desk. 1842 Tennyson Audley Court 43 Oh! who would cast and balance at a desk, Perch'd like a crow upon a three-legg'd stool. 1847 ― Princ. ii. 90 To Lady Psyche's..There sat along the forms..A patient range of pupils; she herself Erect behind a desk of satin-wood. 1850 ― In Mem. cxxviii, To cramp the student at his desk. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 111 He seems to have usually passed the whole day at his desk. |
b. As a repository for writing materials, letters, etc., as well as for writing on. In modern use often a portable box or case opening so as to present a sloping surface.
| 1548 Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ, Pluteus..a littell holowe deske lyke a coffer, whereupon men do write. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 103 In the Deske That's couer'd o're with Turkish Tapistrie There is a purse of Duckets. 1626 Bacon Sylva §658 Some..for Tables, Cupboards and Desks, as Walnuts. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref. (1851) 13 Your Boxes and Desks stufft with nothing but Trifles. a 1744 Pope (J.), I have been obliged to leave unfinished in my desk the heads of two essays. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xviii. 216 She got out her desk and prepared herself for her letter. Mod. The prisoner had forced the desk open and taken the money out of it. |
† c. In early use, applied also to a shelf, case, or press, on or in which books stand in a library or study.
Obs.| [c 1400 Promp. Parv. 120 Deske, pluteum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 97 A Deske; pluteus [a book-shelf, book-case, desk].] 1538 Leland Itin. I. 55 At the Toppe of every Square was a Desk ledgid to set Bookes on Bookes on Cofers withyn them. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. Gen. Prol. A iij, One that for his pastime is set round with deskes of bookes. 1669 Hackett Let. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 554 Expended..upon the College Library, either for bookes, or desques. 1717 Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 513 The books are all contained in desks or presses, whose backs stand to the wall. These desks are all low, of an equal height, so that the highest books are within reach without the least straining. |
2. a. In a church or chapel: In the general sense of 1, a sloping board on which books used in the service are laid, as the book-board in a pulpit. Hence formerly (and still in
U.S.) applied to the seat, stall, or pulpit of the minister, or, (as still in Scotland) to that of the clerk or precentor; in England, to the stalls or choir-seats, and to the reading-desk in the now obsolescent arrangement of pulpit, reading-desk, and clerk's desk, one above another; where this has been abolished, and a special stall is provided for the reading of the prayers, the latter is sometimes called the ‘prayer-desk’.
| 1449 Churchw. Acc. St. Georges, Stamford (Nichols 1797) 132 Making of pleyn desques and of a pleyne rodelofte. 1552 Berksh. Ch. Goods 32 A old clothe of baulkyn for the dexe. 1565 Harding in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. xxx. 72 Clappe me not they the bare Bible on the dext. 1604 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 140 For a desk to lay the byble on. a 1640 W. Fenner Christ's Alarm (1650) 18 How reverently should ye sit in your Pewes? how sacredly should we stand in our desks? 1653 G. Firmin Sober Reply 28 My friend when he had done preaching..went downe out of the Deske. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. iv. 90 Their Singers stood in the Desks. 1784 Cowper Task i. 94 Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk, The tedious rector drawling o'er his head. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. i. 4 The pulpit, or, as it is here [in Connecticut] called, the desk was filled by three, if not four clergymen; a number which, by its form and dimensions, it was able to accommodate. 1830 Tennyson Sonn. to J. M. K., The humming of the drowsy pulpit-drone..while the worn-out clerk Brow-beats his desk below. 1846 Parker Gloss. Archit. (1875) 146 s.v. Lectern, At Debtling is one [a lectern] of Decorated date; it is made with a desk for a book on four sides. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 79 The pulpit, litany desk, and stalls are oaken. |
† b. A seat or pew in a church.
Cf. dais 3 b.
Obs. Sc.| 1560 in Edgar Ch. Life Scotl. (1885) I. 15 Neither the dasks, windocks nor duris be ony wise hurt. 1603 Ibid., To big ane removabill dask for his wyff. 1678 in Old Church Life Ballingry (1890) II. 20 Fill up with deskes the emptie roomes of the Church. 1701 in Scott. N. & Q. I. 12 [To farm] the haill dasks in both churches. 1885 Edgar Ch. Life Scotl. I. 16 Down to about the middle of the 17th century there were very few desks or seats in Church. |
3. fig. a. Used typically for the functions or office of the occupant of a desk,
esp. in sense 2.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 108 b, Luther doth not take upon him the person of a schoolemaister, nor hath challenged to himselfe the dignitie of high deske, nor ever taught any Schooles of new factions. 1821 Dwight Trav. II. 277 He [Dr. Backus, a professor of divinity] educated between forty and fifty for the desk. 1836 W. Andrew Hist. Winterton, etc., 107 At a time when the pulpit and reading-desk were generally at variance. 1838 Brit. Critic XXIII. 294 Their tendency is, to exalt the Pulpit too far above the Desk; to make the performance of man the very life and soul of all public worship. |
b. Work at the desk in an office, etc.; clerical or office work.
| 1797 Burke Regic. Peace iii. (R.), Never can they who from the miserable servitude of the desk have been raised to empire, again submit to the bondage of a starving bureau. 1844 Emerson Lect., Yng. Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 296 He who merely uses it [the land] as a support to his desk and ledger..values it less. |
c. A specified section of a large organization, such as a newspaper office, government department, etc., responsible for a particular subject or operation. Freq. in
U.S., the department in a newspaper office where copy is edited.
Cf. city desk s.v. city 9.
| 1927 U. Sinclair Money Writes 18 The reporters who write up the sensational event—each one is hoping to attract the attention of the ‘desk’. 1958 E. Newby Short Walk in Hindu Kush ii. 24 [At] the Foreign Office..I was interviewed by a representative of the Asian Desk. 1966 J. Bingham Double Agent vi. 87 At the table next to Henry Blundell sat little George Patterson, in charge of the East Russian desk... At the same table was Mike Parsons, who worked at the Czech desk. 1970 R. Gadney Drawn Blanc vi. 61 They gave me a desk in Soviet Counter Intelligence, it's a big outfit now. |
d. The reception desk or office of a hotel, office building, etc.; the person or persons on duty at the reception desk.
| 1963 D. B. Hughes Expendable Man vi. 200 I'll tell the desk not to put through any more calls. 1966 G. Lyall Shooting Script xix. 150 Room 17, I think you said? And the desk knows I'm coming? 1970 P. Bair Tribunal ii. iii. 76 Ask the desk to ring through to Miss Jackson's room. |
4. transf. A meeting of those who occupy the choir desks of a cathedral.
| 1691 in Macray Catal. Rawl. MSS. D ii. 26 The sub⁓chanter and vicars [of Lichfield] desire to know whether he wishes to renew the lease..as the matter will be settled at the next meeting, or deske as they call it. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
desk-board,
desk calendar,
desk-closet,
desk diary,
desk-drudge,
desk-fellow,
desk-gong,
desk job,
desk lamp,
desk-light,
desk-officer;
desk-book, a book for constant use at the desk, a handbook, vade-mecum;
desk-bound a., obliged to remain at work at a desk;
desk-cloth, a cloth to cover a reading-desk or lectern;
desk copy orig. U.S., a free copy of a book,
esp. one supplied for the personal use of a teacher;
desk-knife, a pen-knife with fixed handle, an eraser;
desk-man, (
a) a minister, clergyman, or preacher; (
b) a man who works at a desk,
spec. a journalist who works mainly at a desk; a white-collar worker;
desk-room orig. U.S., space for a desk rented in a business office;
desk sergeant U.S. = station sergeant s.v. station n. 29;
desk-work, work at a desk, as clerk, book-keeper, etc.; see also
desk-top.
| 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 110 Fastned with long nailes to the *deskboards. |
| 1892 Literary World 22 Jan. 82/3 This *desk-book may be highly recommended. |
| 1944 Time 24 Apr. 26 Few thought he would be *desk-bound for long. 1962 Listener 28 June 1104/2 There were desk-bound jurists who had hatched out theories of crime ‘as remote from reality as they are harmful’. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) p. xxxi/5 *Desk Calendar Pads. 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald Beautiful & Damned i. iii. 100 On a desk calendar he marked the days off. 1968 H. C. Rae Few Small Bones ii. i. 71 He ruffled the pages of his desk calendar. |
| 1879 E. Garrett House by Works I. 62 In the little oak *desk-closet at the back of the shop, stood a young woman. |
| 1942 Amer. Speech XVII. 121 The teaching profession avoids the appearance of receiving forbidden favors by asking its publishers not for free copies but for *desk copies. 1962 Publishers' Weekly 23 Apr. 39/2 Professors when they request ‘desk copies’ frequently also order books..for their own libraries. |
| 1960 T. Hughes Lupercal 52 Outstripping his *desk-diary at a broad desk. 1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xxxii. 125 He flips through the desk and finds a nice leather desk diary. |
| 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls Ser. ii. Clive 92 *Desk-drudge, slaving at St. David's, one must game, or drink, or craze. |
| 1825 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superannuated Man, To visit my old *desk-fellows. |
| 1965 ‘R. L. Pike’ Police Blotter (1966) vii. 105 He managed to get a soft *desk job in the war. |
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 9 Pen-knives..fastened into the hafts, in the manner of what are now called *desk-knives. |
| 1896 New England Mag. Nov. (Advt.), New designs in Dresden *desk lamps. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 182 Glittereyed, his rufous skull close to his greencapped desk-lamp sought the face, bearded amid darkgreener shadow, an ollav, holyeyed. 1982 Habitat Catal. 1982/83 106/1 Classical desk lamp with swivelling green metal reflector cowl on a brass stem. |
| 1929 E. Wilson I thought of Daisy i. 29, I turned aside the adjustable *desk-light..so that it lit only the farther wall. |
| 1893 K. Grahame Pagan Ess. 105 The *Desk-men have a temporary majority. 1913 Writer's Bull. Oct. 101/1 The salaries paid..are..better than those paid to many ‘desk men’ in the offices of large newspapers. 1925 A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose i. xxx. 181 The city desk-man's feeble stoop. 1961 Times 8 Feb. 13/7 Millions of deskmen from an inflated officialdom have been out in the fields helping the peasants. 1967 R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) viii. 142 The IPS bureau chief was regarded as a superb deskman and a skilled writer. |
| 1885 Public Opinion 9 Jan. 38/2 A scientific and what is popularly known as a *desk officer. |
| 1868 R. B. Kimball Undercurrents 9, I occupied an office—no, I had ‘*desk-room’ in a basement office. 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall Street 117 Many of the operators, as well as the smaller brokers,..have simply desk-room. 1926 Kipling Debits & Credits 337 Our War-side merely applied for desk-room in your basement. |
| 1908 K. McGaffey Sorrows of Show Girl 89 All he got was a clout on the head from the *desk sergeant. 1967 Punch 19 July 85/3 The rich having their three dollars whipped off them by the desk-sergeant and put in an envelope. |
| 1864 Tennyson Sea Dreams 78 A dozen years Of dust and *deskwork. |
Add:
[5.] desk dictionary chiefly
N. Amer. (
orig. U.S.), a one-volume dictionary of medium size, suited for use on a desk for general reference.
| [1915 J. C. Fernald (title) The desk standard dictionary of the English language; designed to give the orthography, pronunciation, meaning, and etymology of about 80,000 words and phrases.] 1948 New Republic 2 Feb. 27/1 Almost all the *desk dictionaries have come to resemble one another. 1961 Bay & Wendell in J. Barzun Delights of Detection 265 Four or five novels..and..a desk dictionary. 1982 Papers Dict. Soc. N. Amer. 1977 34 There are two other vowel distinctions that are made by W8 but not by other desk dictionaries. |
▸
desk jockey n.<desk
n. +
jockey n., after
disc-jockey n. at
disc n. Compounds 6
colloq. (
orig. U.S.) a person who works at a desk; an office worker,
esp. one chiefly occupied with routine, unimportant administrative duties.
| 1943 Washington Post 22 Apr. b1/1 He said the farmers had been denied a few dollars and now we are proposing to give $300 apiece to a ‘bunch of *desk jockeys’. 1968 K. H. Cooper Aerobics 38 This category catches all the do-nothings, the desk jockeys, the TV watchers, the over-eaters, the over-smokers. 2001 N.Y. Mag. 1 Oct. 28/1 Ganci was no desk jockey. His uniform shirt was crusted with medals for pulling people out of burning buildings. |
▪ II. † desk, v. Obs. [f. desk n.] 1. trans. To fit up or furnish with desks.
| a 1509 Hen. VII. Will in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 498 That the said Chapell be desked. |
2. To place in or as in a desk.
| 1615 Albumazar i. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 311 A leaf of that small Iliad That in a walnut-shell was desk'd. 1646 J. Hall Poems i. 2 Then are you entertaind, and deskt up by Our Ladies Psalter and the Rosary. 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 164, I..saw many curious relicks desked up in the side of the wall. |
3. to desk it: to work at a desk, do clerical work.
nonce-use.
| 1846 J. Mackintosh Let. in Mem. (1854) 109, I have been busy, sometimes desking it 13 to 15 hours per diem. |