EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR DIVAN
He lay face downward on the divan, in the dark, and he did "think it all over."
There on the divan she had cried, leaning her head against his sleeve.
"That is correct," I said, sinking back into the cushions of the divan.
On a divan the motion for rejection was carried by 178 to 136.
Whereupon Khalid rises and sits on the divan near the Padre.
As to Steiner, he would sleep on the divan in the drawing room.
Wilhelmine rose from the divan on which she had been reclining.
He grovelled on the divan heavy in thought and with pendent arms.
Reclining on his divan he looked her up and down with a languid eye.
He flashed a glance in the direction of the divan under the awning where the Basha slept.
WORD ORIGIN
1580s, "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, from Persian devan "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the "Divan i-Hafiz"), related to debir "writer."
Sense evolved through "book of accounts," to "office of accounts," "custom house," "council chamber," then to "long, cushioned seat," such as are found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers (see couch). The sofa/couch sense was taken into English 1702; the "book of poems" sense in 1823.