cabinet noirn.
/ˌkabᵻneɪ ˈnwɑː/, U.S. /ˌkæbəneɪ ˈnwɑr/ In early use: a government intelligence department that intercepts and decrypts letters and other communications before they are delivered (now historical). Later, more generally: an organization or group within a government that operates in a clandestine or covert manner.Chiefly in French contexts.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government department or agency > [noun] > with specific responsibility
intelligence office1659
custom house1661
secret service1737
home department1782
home office1790
War Department1797
port authority1851
W.D.1855
welfare department1904
welfare1928
social services1968
1828 tr. C. Dupin in Times 28 Aug. The secret violation of private correspondence abolished by the suppression of the infamous ‘Cabinet noir’ [by the French Parliamentary session of 1828].
1905 V. Thompson Diplomatic Myst. 93 Although all the governments deny it, there is not a government under which a cabinet noir does not exist.
2017 J. Miller www.spectator.co.uk 23 Apr. (blog post, accessed 22 Nov. 2021) The evidence against Fillon appears to have come directly from a secretive cell within the Finance Ministry, a Cabinet Noir, with access to the tax returns of both Fillon and his Welsh wife.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2022).
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n.1828