coffer

plural coffers · alternative copher · alternative cophre

1. A strong chest or box used for keeping money or valuables safe.

   "There is nothing in that," said Guido, "but a genealogy of the Carraras, drawn up by my grandfather. We have kept this little ebony coffer for the sake of its curious carving. The marriage of Cana is beautifully wrought on its lid."

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 163

   Synonyms: strongbox

2. architectureAn ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome.

   Prolapsed and waterstained ceiling, the sagging coffers.

   1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 135

   Synonyms: caisson

3. A temporary watertight structure used during underwater construction of bridges, causeways, ships, etc.

   Synonyms: cofferdam, caisson

4. A supply or store of money, often belonging to an organization.

   c. 1610–1620 (written), 1661 (first published), Francis Bacon, Letter of Advice to the Duke of Buckingham He would discharge it without any great burden to the queen's coffers.

   2 more examples

   Hold, there is half my coffer.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   The coffers were empty, and the first thing to be done was to devise some means by which we could raise a revenue.

   1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 26

5. A trench dug in the bottom of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it with raking fire.

present singular third person coffers · participle present coffering · participle past coffered · past coffered · alternative copher · alternative cophre

1. transitiveTo put money or valuables in a coffer.
2. transitiveTo decorate something, especially a ceiling, with coffers.
3. transitiveTo panel, frame, or border with a raised protective trim.

   I must not forget these boxes, which are most ingeniously made of the pith of a palm leaf pegged together, lined inside with pandanus leaves, and outside with the same, or with plaited grass. All the joints and angles are coffered with strips of split rattan sewn neatly on.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 257

plural Coffers

1. A surname.