Divanʹ (Arabic and Persian, diwan)
means a register kept on a white table exactly similar to our board. Among the Orientals the word is applied to a council-chamber or court of justice; but in England we mean a coffee-house where smoking is the chief attraction.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.