Category:Coffer

Cof"fer, n. Etym: [OF. cofre, F. coffre, L. cophinus basket, fr. Gr. 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.)

Defn: A panel deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico; a caisson.

4. (Fort.)

Defn: A trench dug in the botton 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. (Zoöl.) See Cowfish.

coffer Cof"fer, v. t.

1. To put into a coffer. Bacon.

2. (Mining.)

Defn: To secure from leaking, as a chaft, by ramming clay behind the masonry or timbering. Raymond.

3. To form with or in a coffer or coffers; to turnish with a coffer or coffers.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

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 Samuel 6:8, 1 Samuel 6:11, 1 Samuel 6:15).