What is "divan"

Divan \Di*van"\, n. [Per. d[=i]w[=a]n a book of many leaves, an account book, a collection of books, a senate, council: cf. Ar. daiw[=a]n, F. divan.]

1. A book; esp., a collection of poems written by one author; as, the divan of Hafiz. [Persia]

2. In Turkey and other Oriental countries: A council of state; a royal court. Also used by the poets for a grand deliberative council or assembly.
   --Pope.

3. A chief officer of state. [India]

4. A saloon or hall where a council is held, in Oriental countries, the state reception room in places, and in the houses of the richer citizens. Cushions on the floor or on benches are ranged round the room.

5. A cushioned seat, or a large, low sofa or couch; especially, one fixed to its place, and not movable.

6. A coffee and smoking saloon. [Colloq.]

1580s, "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, from Persian devan "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the "Divan i-Hafiz"), related to debir "writer."\n

\nSense evolved through "book of accounts," to "office of accounts," "custom house," "council chamber," then to "long, cushioned seat," such as are found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers (see couch). The sofa/couch sense was taken into English 1702; the "book of poems" sense in 1823.

n. A couch- or sofa-like piece of furniture made of a mattress lying against the wall and either on the floor or an elevated structure.

1. n. a long backless sofa (usually with pillows against a wall)

2. a Muslim council of state [syn: diwan]

3. a collection of Persian or Arabic poems (usually by one author) [syn: diwan]

4. a Muslim council chamber or law court [syn: diwan]

A divan or diwan (, dīvān) was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official (see dewan).

A divan ( Turkish divan, originally from Persian devan) is a piece of couch-like sitting furniture or, in the UK, a box-spring based bed.

Primarily, in the Middle East (especially the Ottoman Empire), a divan was a long seat formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against.

Divans received this name because they were generally found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers of a bureau called divan or diwan (from Persian, meaning a government council or office, from the bundles of papers they processed, and next their council chambers).

Divans are a common feature of the liwan, a long, vaulted, narrow room in Levantine homes. The divan in the sense of a sofa or couch entered the English language in 1702 and has been commonly known in Europe since about the middle of the 18th century. It was fashionable, roughly from 1820 to 1850, wherever the romantic movement in literature penetrated. All the boudoirs of that generation were garnished with divans. They spread to coffee-houses, which were sometimes known as divans or Turkish divans, and a cigar divan remains a familiar expression. This is preserved today in Romanian as divan, Bulgarian and Russian as диван (divan).

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic couch was a divan, draped with a heavy Persian rug and cushions, given to him as a gift from a patient.

Diwan or Divan refers to two types of palatial buildings in Indian courts. They tend to occur in pairs in the Mughal imperial capitals; the most famous ones are in Agra Fort, but there are others in Red Fort, Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri and certain other princely capitals such as Amber and also in Lahore Fort Pakistan.