divan

noun

1. (historical)A Muslim council of state, specifically that of viziers of the Ottoman Empire that discussed and recommended new laws and law changes to a higher authority (the sultan).
2. The council chamber where this court is held; (by extension), any court of justice.
3. (archaic)Any council or assembly.

   “Startled at such an unaccountable event, they sat in close divan; and concluding that the case was in all respects unnatural and prodigious, desired that a messenger might be immediately dispatched for some male practitioner in the art of midwifery.”

   “As I passed, I called at the mad-house; where I found Mac Fane and the scowling keeper in high divan.”

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

   “Eurydice pointed to the cupboard, and sat down on the low divan with folded hands, and looked at the floor.”

5. (dated)An establishment that serves cigars and coffee, and may offer other amenities such as books, newspapers, and chess.

   “Near-synonym: smoking room”

   “[H]e asked her if there were any place near where he could get a cup of coffee. Though she did keep a shell-fish supper-house, she was very civil, and directed him to the cigar divan on the other side of the street. Mr. Harding had not a much correcter notion of a cigar divan than he had of a London dinner-house, but he was desperately in want of rest, and went as he was directed.”

6. (Hong-Kong, dated)An establishment that serves cigars and coffee, and may offer other amenities such as books, newspapers, and chess.

   “No person shall open, keep, manage or assist in the management of a divan where a dangerous drug is sold in the divan to be smoked, inhaled, ingested or injected therein; […]”

   “During the operation, the Hong Kong Police Force conducted searches at about 1,700 locations, neutralising over 800 gambling dens, vice establishments, divans and unlicensed bars.”

7. A collection of poems, especially one written by an author in Arabic or Persian.