bonheur-du-jour

[ buh-nur-doo-zhoor, -dyoo-, -duh-; French baw-nœr-dy-zhoor ]

noun

, French Furniture.

, plural bon·heurs-du-jour [b, uh, -, nur, -doo-, zhoor, -dyoo-, -d, uh, -, baw-n, œ, r, -d, y, -, zhoor].

1. a delicate fall-front desk of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bonheur-du-jour¹

1875–80; < French: literally, happiness of the day, from the favor it found in its time

Example Sentences

The Mayor pressed the spring of a little writing-table of inlaid work, known as a bonheur-du-jour, and took out of it a letter that he handed to the Baron.

From Project Gutenberg

The police-officer rapped twice on the door; his clerk came in, sat down at the "bonheur-du-jour," and wrote what the constable dictated to him in an undertone.

From Project Gutenberg

"When we came in here, Monsieur le Baron, that wretched creature Marneffe led the way, and he took up this letter, which his wife, no doubt, had placed on this writing-table," and he pointed to the bonheur-du-jour.

From Project Gutenberg

The Mayor pressed the spring of a little writing-table of inlaid work, known as a bonheur-du-jour, and took out of it a letter that he handed to the Baron.

From Project Gutenberg

The police-officer rapped twice on the door; his clerk came in, sat down at the "bonheur-du-jour," and wrote what the constable dictated to him in an undertone.

From Project Gutenberg