divan
noun/dɪˈvæn/
/dɪˈvæn/
- (also divan bed)(both British English) a bed with a thick base and a mattress
- We slept on a double divan.
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- a long low soft seat without a back or arms
Word Originlate 16th cent. (originally meaning a legislative body in the Middle East): via French or Italian from Turkish dīvān, from Persian dīwān ‘anthology, register, court, or bench’. As a piece of furniture, a divan was originally (early 18th cent.) a low bench or raised section of floor against an interior wall, used as a long seat and common in Middle Eastern countries; European imitation of this led to the sense ‘low flat sofa or bed’ (late 19th cent.).
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