| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| divan |
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| SYLLABICATION: | di·van |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d -vän , -v n |
| NOUN: | 1. A long backless sofa, especially one set with pillows against a wall. 2. (also d -vn)a. A counting room, tribunal, or public audience room in Muslim countries. b. The seat used by an administrator when holding audience. c. A government bureau or council chamber. 3. (also d-vn) A coffeehouse or smoking room. 4. (also d-vn) A book of poems, especially one written in Arabic or Persian by a single author. | | ETYMOLOGY: | French, from Turkish, from Persian dv n, place of assembly, roster, probably from Old Iranian *dipivahanam, document house : Old Persian dip-, writing, document (from Akkadian  uppu, tablet, letter, from Sumerian dub) + Old Persian vahanam, house; see wes-1 in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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