What's the difference between desk and secretary?

Desk


Definition:

  • (n.) A table, frame, or case, usually with sloping top, but often with flat top, for the use writers and readers. It often has a drawer or repository underneath.
  • (n.) A reading table or lectern to support the book from which the liturgical service is read, differing from the pulpit from which the sermon is preached; also (esp. in the United States), a pulpit. Hence, used symbolically for "the clerical profession."
  • (v. t.) To shut up, as in a desk; to treasure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Unlike Baker, a courtly Texan, Lew is a low-key figure, an observant Orthodox Jew and native New Yorker, of whom the New York Times once revealed: "He brings his own lunch (a cheese sandwich and an apple) and eats at his desk."
  • (2) One chief constable policing a rural area said he would have a copy of the winning candidate's manifesto on his desk when he met the new PCC on their first day of work.
  • (3) As well as a portrait of Austen, the new note will include images of her writing desk and quills at Chawton Cottage, in Hampshire, where she lived; her brother's home, Godmersham Park, which she visited often, and is thought to have inspired some of her novels, and a quote from Miss Bingley, in Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"
  • (4) His latest thinking includes introducing concierge desks to welcome shoppers and tapas bars in its wine departments.
  • (5) He said there were a sufficient number of shifts at Heathrow to maintain "a full immigration desk policy" and insisted the contingency planning for security at the Games, which had seen more than 18,000 military personnel called in, meant the government had enough troops in place or in reserve to make up for the G4S staffing fiasco.
  • (6) In spite of resistance from Republicans and some Democrats, Obama expressed confidence that the legislation would be on his desk by the middle of next month.
  • (7) Just one problem (apart from the old roof falling off): it's 60 miles from my desk.
  • (8) The BMC approximated the standing lumbar curve in seated subjects writing at a desk to a greater degree than the SCC.
  • (9) A case is presented on the use of extracorporeal lithotrity by shock waves to treat vesical lithiasis, using the desk module of a Lithostar-PlusR (Siemens) lithotripter.
  • (10) The introduction of a desk computer improved morale, speeded up the work, and reduced both fatigue and mistakes.
  • (11) Vine's short-notice inspection report on border security checks at Heathrow's terminals 3 and 4, published on Thursday ,says that many of those who are being drafted in are ex-UK Border Agency employees who are being rehired, or staff who have been working elsewhere in the Home Office but have only been given basic training to work on the airport passport desks.
  • (12) The most widely used source of drug information for doctors is the industry-sponsored Physicians' Desk Reference, which overrates the therapeutic value of Valium and Librium as compared to disinterested medical sources.
  • (13) Stations Global must sell East Midlands: Smooth or Capital Cardiff and South Wales: Real or Capital North Wales: Real or Heart Greater Manchester and the north-west: Capital or Real XS with either Real or Smooth North-east: Real or Smooth or Capital South and West Yorkshire: Real or Capital Central Scotland: Real or Capital • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857.
  • (14) In another, Underwood and his aide are monitoring police communications from his office – and laid out on their desk are no fewer than nine iPhones and iPads.
  • (15) Letters were sent to the 224 manufacturers listed in the 1984 Physicians' Desk Reference requesting a list of all products containing sulfiting agents.
  • (16) In early years Bloomberg reporters would assist on the help desk and even go on client pitches.
  • (17) Finally, statistical methods and a small desk-top computer were employed to compute linear regression equations, correlation coefficients, and t tests from the week's data.
  • (18) Or you can do it at the desk with your smartphone if you can remember the website address, don’t mind the data roaming charges, can remember your national insurance number and are impervious to the long queue developing behind you”.
  • (19) I remember the way I slid sideways through rows of desks, my arms crossed over my chest.
  • (20) Lisa and Brian converted the old wooden schoolhouse six years ago and the design is bright and eclectic, think retro school desks, a funky red kitchen, a clear geodesic dome in the garden for stargazing and chill-out time and a giant chess set on the lawn.

Secretary


Definition:

  • (n.) One who keeps, or is intrusted with, secrets.
  • (n.) A person employed to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, records, and the like; an official scribe, amanuensis, or writer; one who attends to correspondence, and transacts other business, for an association, a public body, or an individual.
  • (n.) An officer of state whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government, and who is usually a member of the cabinet or advisory council of the chief executive; as, the secretary of state, who conducts the correspondence and attends to the relations of a government with foreign courts; the secretary of the treasury, who manages the department of finance; the secretary of war, etc.
  • (n.) A piece of furniture, with conveniences for writing and for the arrangement of papers; an escritoire.
  • (n.) The secretary bird.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In attacking the motion to freeze the licence fee during today's Parliamentary debate the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, criticised the Tory leader.
  • (2) There will be no statutory inquiry or independent review into the notorious clash between police and miners at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 , the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has announced.
  • (3) The criticism over the downgrading of the leader of the Lords was led by Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, a former Scotland secretary, who is a respected figure on the right.
  • (4) UN internal investigators delivered a report to the then secretary general, Kofi Annan, but it was not published.
  • (5) It is an intriguing moment: the new culture secretary, Sajid Javid, who was brought in to replace Maria Miller last month, is something of an unknown quantity.
  • (6) I"m not concerned about the Secretary of State's comments, he suggests.
  • (7) US presidential election 2016: the state of the Republican race as the year begins Read more So far, the former secretary of state seems to be recovering well from self-inflicted wounds that dogged the start of her second, and most concerted, attempt for the White House.
  • (8) Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said people would see through her attempts to distance herself from Gove.
  • (9) And I want to do this in partnership with you.” In the Commons, there are signs the home secretary may manage to reduce a rebellion by backbench Tory MPs this afternoon on plans to opt back into a series of EU justice and home affairs measures, notably the European arrest warrant .
  • (10) Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the Iraq war, took a less dramatic view.
  • (11) The secretary of state should work constructively with frontline staff and managers rather than adversarially and commit to no administrative reorganisation.” Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive, Health Foundation “It will be crucial that the next government maintains a stable and certain environment in the NHS that enables clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to continue to transform care and improve health outcomes for their local populations.
  • (12) David Blunkett, not Straw, was the home secretary at the time the decision was taken to allow Poles and others immediate access to the British labour market.
  • (13) The alignment of Clinton’s Iowa team, all but guaranteeing a declaration of her official campaign before the end of next month, was coming into view amid reports that she was due to address by the end of the week controversy over her use of a private email account as secretary of state.
  • (14) The home secretary was today pressed to explain how cyber warfare could be seen as being on an equal footing to the threat from international terrorism.
  • (15) The education secretary's wife, Sarah Vine, a columnist, said her son William, nine, and daughter Beatrice, 11, now realise how much their father is hated for his position in government because other children tell them in the playground.
  • (16) It will form part of an investigation launched by the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, on the orders of David Cameron to determine the British government's actions over the raid on Sikhism's holiest site in Amritsar.
  • (17) Enright said: “We call on the home secretary and chair of IICSA [the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse] to engage actively and urgently to find a way forward that secures the confidence of survivors and provides the inquiry’s legal team with the resources and support they need to deliver justice and truth that survivors deserve.” Stein said his clients were “deeply disatisfied” with aspects of how the inquiry had been conducted but called for Emmerson to stay, adding: “I urge the home secretary to seek to find a way in which his valuable contribution can be maintained”.
  • (18) Luciana Berger, Labour shadow secretary for mental health, also expressed alarm.
  • (19) At a private meeting last Tuesday, Hunt assured Cameron and the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, that he had not been aware that his special adviser, Adam Smith, was systematically leaking information and advice to News Corp about its bid for BSkyB.
  • (20) He is shadow home secretary and will have to defend himself.