»office

While reading the delightful exploits of working-class sleuth Montague Egg in Hangman's Holiday, I came across an unexpcted usage of the word office: "We had the office he was expected this way," spoken by a police-sergeant describing how they suspected that one of the men in the bar-parlour of an inn was a criminal.

This usage may be the same as illustrated in the Cardshark online definition of office in their Gambling Glossary: "A secret signal passed from a gambler to his confederate".