OTTOMAN  , a

form of couch which usually has a head but no back, though sometimes it has neither . It may have square or semicircular ends, and as a rule it is what upholsterers call " stuffed over "—that is to say no wood is visible . It belongs to the same order of ideas as the divan (q.v.); its name indeed betokens its Oriental origin . It was one of the luxurious appointments which Europe imported from the East in the 18th century; the first mention that has been found of it is in France in 1729 . In the course of a generation it made its way into every boudoir, but it appears originally to have been much larger than at present . The word is also applied to a small foot-stool covered with carpet, embroidery or beadwork .