▪ a writing desk with drawers and typically an angled top opening downward to form a writing surface.BritishSimilardeskwriting deskwriting tableroll-top deskdavenportsecretaireescritoire
Word Originlate 17th century: from French, originally ‘baize’ (used to cover writing desks), from Old French burel, probably from bure ‘dark brown’, based on Greek purros ‘red’.