A desk is a generally wooded piece of furniture and a type of useful table often used in a school or office setting for various academic activities such as reading or writing on or using a computer.
Desks often have one or more drawers, compartments, or pigeon holes to store office supplies and papers. Unlike a regular table, usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit on (though there are some exceptions, such as a partners desk). Not all desks have the form of a table. For instance, an armoire desk is a desk built within a large wardrobe-like cabinet, and a portable desk is light enough to be placed on a person's lap. Since many people lean on a desk while using it, a desk must be sturdy. Desk were first made from wood, but are slowly being converted into harder materials that last longer.
A desk is also known as a bureau, counter, davenport, escritoire, lectern, reading stand, rolltop desk, school desk, workspace or writing desk. In Spanish a desk is called el escritorio.
Read more about Desk: Etymology, Early Desks, Industrial Era, Steel Desks, Student Desks, Influence of Computers, Famous Desk, In Literature
Famous quotes containing the word desk:
“It’s true, as Marya Mannes says: “No one believes [a woman’s] time to be sacred. A man at his desk in a room with a closed door is a man at work. A woman at a desk in any room is available.””
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)
“There was a girl who was running the traffic desk, and there was a woman who was on the overnight for radio as a producer, and my desk assistant was a woman. So when the world came to an end, we took over.”
—Marya McLaughlin, U.S. television newswoman. As quoted in Women in Television News, ch. 3, by Judith S. Gelfman (1976)