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coffer - 6 dictionary results
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cof⋅fer

  [kaw-fer, kof-er]
Use coffer in a Sentence
–noun
1. a box or chest, esp. one for valuables.
2. coffers, a treasury; funds: The coffers of the organization were rapidly filled by the contributions.
3. any of various boxlike enclosures, as a cofferdam.
4. Also called caisson, lacunar. Architecture. one of a number of sunken panels, usually square or octagonal, in a vault, ceiling, or soffit.
–verb (used with object)
5. to deposit or lay up in or as in a coffer or chest.
6. to ornament with coffers or sunken panels.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME cofre < OF ≪ L cophinus basket; see coffin

Related forms:
cof⋅fer⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To coffer
cof·fer   (kô'fər, kŏf'ər)   
n.  
  1. A strongbox.
  2. often coffers
    1. Financial resources; funds.
    2. A treasury: stole money from the union coffers.
  3. Architecture A decorative sunken panel in a ceiling, dome, soffit, or vault.
  4. The chamber formed by a canal lock.
  5. A cofferdam.
  6. A floating dock.
tr.v.   cof·fered, cof·fer·ing, cof·fers
  1. To put in a coffer.
  2. Architecture To supply (a ceiling, for example) with decorative sunken panels.

[Middle English cofre, from Old French, alteration of *cofne, from Latin cophinus, basket; see coffin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Coffer

Cof"fer\ (?; 115), n. [OF. cofre, F. coffre, L. cophinus basket, fr. Gr. ?. Cf. Coffin, n.]

1. A casket, chest, or trunk; especially, one used for keeping money or other valuables. --Chaucer.

In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns. --Shak.

2. Fig.: Treasure or funds; -- usually in the plural.

He would discharge it without any burden to the queen's coffers, for honor sake. --Bacon.

Hold, here is half my coffer. --Shak.

3. (Arch.) A panel deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico; a caisson.

4. (Fort.) A trench dug in the bottom of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it by a raking fire.

5. The chamber of a canal lock; also, a caisson or a cofferdam.

Coffer dam. (Engin.) See Cofferdam, in the Vocabulary.

Coffer fish. (Zo["o]l.) See Cowfish.

Coffer

Cof"fer\, v. t. 1. To put into a coffer. --Bacon.

2. (Mining.) To secure from leaking, as a shaft, by ramming clay behind the masonry or timbering. --Raymond.

3. To form with or in a coffer or coffers; to furnish with a coffer or coffers.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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coffer 
c.1250, from O.Fr. cofre "a chest," from L. cophinus "basket" (see coffin).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Coffer

the receptacle or small box placed beside the ark by the Philistines, in which they deposited the golden mice and the emerods as their trespass-offering (1 Sam. 6:8, 11, 15).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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