office

office
    n 1: place of business where professional or clerical duties are
         performed; "he rented an office in the new building" [syn:
         {office}, {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},
       {office}, {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}, {office}, {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: {office}, {power}]
    5: professional or clerical workers in an office; "the whole
       office was late the morning of the blizzard" [syn: {office},
       {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}, {office},
       {spot}, {billet}, {place}, {situation}]
    

Office \Of"fice\, n. [F., fr. L. officium, for opificium; ops
   ability, wealth, help + 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            I would I could do a good office between you.
                                                  --Shak.
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   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.
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   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.
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            Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I
            magnify mine office.                  --Rom. xi. 13.
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   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.
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            They [the eyes] resign their office and their light.
                                                  --Shak.
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            Hesperus, whose office is to bring
            Twilight upon the earth.              --Milton.
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            In this experiment the several intervals of the
            teeth of the comb do the office of so many prisms.
                                                  --Sir I.
                                                  Newton.
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   5. The place where any kind of business or service for others
      is transacted; a building, suite of rooms, or room in
      which public officers or workers in any organization
      transact business; as, the register's office; a lawyer's
      office; the doctor's office; the Mayor's office.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

   6. The company or corporation, or persons collectively, whose
      place of business is in an office; as, I have notified the
      office.
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   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.]
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            As for the offices, let them stand at distance.
                                                  --Bacon.
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   8. (Eccl.) Any service other than that of ordination and the
      Mass; any prescribed religious service.
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            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.
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   {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

   {Office hours}. the hours of the day during which business is
      transacted at an office[5].

   {Office seeker}. a person who is attempting to get elected to
      an elected office, or to get an appointment to an
      appointive public office.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]
    

Office \Of`fice\, v. t.
   To perform, as the duties of an office; to discharge. [Obs.]
   --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Microsoft Office
MS Office
Office

   <product> {Microsoft}'s bundles of {productivity tools}
   including {Microsoft Word}, {Microsoft Excel}, {Microsoft
   Powerpoint}, {Microsoft Outlook}, {Microsoft Access},
   {Microsoft Publisher}, {Microsoft Front Page}, {Microsoft Team
   Manager}, {Microsoft Project}, {Microsoft Schedule+},
   {Microsoft Internet Explorer}, {Small Business Financial
   Manager}, {Automap Streets Plus}.

   Editions of Office include {Microsoft Office Professional
   Edition}, {Microsoft Office Standard Edition}, {Microsoft
   Office Small Business Edition}, {Microsoft Office Developer
   Edition}.  Different editions contain different subsets of the
   above applications.

   Current version, as of 2004-08-30: Office 2003.

   (http://microsoft.com/office).

   (2004-08-30)
    

OFFICE. An office 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. 
    

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

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. 
    

284 Moby Thesaurus words for "office":
      Mass, act of grace, act of kindness, advice, advocacy, aegis,
      agency, agentship, aid, alerting, appointment, area, assignment,
      assistance, atelier, auspices, authority, authorization,
      baccalaureate service, backhouse, backing, backup, bailiwick,
      bedtime prayer, benefaction, benefit, benevolence, benignity,
      berth, billet, bit, blessing, booking office, box office, branch,
      branch office, brevet, bureau, business, cabinet, camp meeting,
      capacity, care, caution, celebration, ceremonial, ceremony,
      chambers, chancellery, chancery, character, charge, chore, church,
      church service, closet, clue, comfort, commencement, commissariat,
      commission, commissioning, commitment, company, compline,
      connection, consignment, constablery, constablewick, constabulary,
      consulate, convocation, corporate headquarters, corporation,
      courtesy, crapper, cue, cure, delegated authority, delegation, den,
      department, deputation, devolution, devolvement, devotions,
      divine service, division, duty, ease, embassy, employment,
      empowerment, empty formality, end use, engagement, entrusting,
      entrustment, errand, establishment, evening devotions, evensong,
      executive office, executorship, exequatur, exercise, exercises,
      factorship, favor, firm, form, form of worship, formal, formality,
      formula, formulary, full power, function, gig, good deed,
      good offices, good turn, grace, graduation, graduation exercises,
      headquarters, help, holy rite, home office, house,
      immediate purpose, inaugural, inauguration, incumbency, indulgence,
      initiation, institution, intercession, intermediation, jakes, job,
      jurisdiction, kind deed, kind offices, kindly act, kindness,
      labor of love, lauds, legation, library, license, lieutenancy,
      liturgy, lob, loft, main office, mandate, matins, mediation,
      meeting, mercy, ministration, ministry, mission, mitzvah,
      mode of worship, monition, moonlighting, morning devotions,
      mummery, municipality, mystery, necessary, night song, none, nones,
      novena, obligation, observance, occupation, offices, opening,
      operation, operational purpose, order of worship, ordinance,
      organization, outhouse, part, passing word, patronage, performance,
      place, plenipotentiary power, pointer, position, post,
      power of attorney, power to act, practice, praise meeting, prayer,
      prayer meeting, prayers, prescribed form, prime, prime song,
      procuration, protection, province, proxy, public worship, purpose,
      purview, regency, regentship, relief, religious ceremony, remedy,
      rescue, responsibility, revival, revival meeting, rite,
      rite de passage, rite of passage, ritual, ritual observance,
      rituality, role, room, sacrament, sacramental, sail loft,
      second job, secretariat, section, service, sext, sheriffalty,
      sheriffwick, shop, shrievalty, shtick, situation, solemnity,
      solemnization, spot, stacks, station, steer, studio, study, succor,
      support, task, tent meeting, tenure, therapy, thing, ticket office,
      tierce, tip, tip-off, trust, trusteeship, turn, ultimate purpose,
      undersong, use, vacancy, vesper, vespers, vicarious authority,
      vigils, warning, warrant, watch meeting, watch night,
      watch-night service, whisper, work, workplace, workroom