furniture

[fur-ni-cher] /ˈfɜr nɪ tʃər/

noun

the movable articles, as tables, chairs, desks or cabinets, required for use or ornament in a house, office, or the like.

fittings, apparatus, or necessary accessories for something.

equipment for streets and other public areas, as lighting standards, signs, benches, or litter bins.

Also called bearer, dead metal. Printing. pieces of wood or metal, less than type high, set in and about pages of type to fill them out and hold the type in place in a chase.

Origin

1520-30; < French fourniture, derivative of fournir to furnish

Related forms

furnitureless, adjective

Examples from the web for furniture

These used to be thriving places, where people bought furniture and other household goods.
It was an age of household furniture, tea-drinking and sensibility.
She pictures the furniture, the household equipment, the streets and markets.
Next, measure the pieces of furniture that you intend to place in the room.
It is home to an annual fiddlers' convention and, less happily, a huddle of textile and furniture factories.
Your average furniture upholstery is surrounded by strong smells, including human feet, animal hair and spilled food bits.
The wood resisted rot and warping, making it a favorite for fencing, utility poles and furniture.
US manufacturers are exploring an innovative way of making clothing, furniture upholstery, and other products from corn.
When the square feet aren't adjustable, make sure your furniture and fixtures are.
During the past decade, furniture designers have tried to part the sea of cubicles and encourage sociability-without going nuts.

British Dictionary definitions for furniture

furniture

/ˈfɜːnɪtʃə/

noun

the movable, generally functional, articles that equip a room, house, etc

the equipment necessary for a ship, factory, etc

(printing) lengths of wood, plastic, or metal, used in assembling formes to create the blank areas and to surround the type

the wooden parts of a rifle

(obsolete) the full armour, trappings, etc, for a man and horse

the attitudes or characteristics that are typical of a person or thing: the furniture of the murderer's mind

(informal) part of the furniture, someone or something that is so long established in an environment as to be accepted as an integral part of it: he has been here so long that he is part of the furniture

See door furniture, street furniture

Word Origin

C16: from French fourniture, from fournir to equip, furnish

Word Origin and History for furniture

1520s, "act of furnishing," from Middle French fourniture, from fournir "furnish" (see furnish). Sense of "chairs, tables, etc.; household stuff" (1570s) is unique to English; most other European languages derive their words for this from Latin mobile "movable."