• Coffin

    Pronunciation

    • RP IPA: /ˈkÉ’fɪn/
    • US IPA: /ˈkÉ”fɪn/
    • US IPA: /ˈkÉ‘fɪn/
    • Rhymes: -É’fɪn

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    From Middle English cofin, from Old Northern French cofin ("sarcophagus", earlier "basket, coffer"), from Latin cophinus ("basket"), a loanword from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kophinos, "a basket").

    Full definition of coffin

    Noun

    coffin

    (plural coffins)
    1. An oblong closed box in which a dead person is buried.
    2. (obsolete) A basket.
      • Wycliffe's BibleAnd all ate, and were filled. And they took the reliefs of broken gobbets, twelve coffins full (Matthew 14:20).
    3. A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
      • ShakespeareOf the paste a coffin I will rear.
    4. (obsolete) A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
    5. The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone.

    Usage notes

    The type of coffin with upholstery and a half-open lid (mostly in the United States) is called a casket.

    Synonyms

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To place in a coffin.
      • 2007, Barbara Everett, "Making and Breaking in Shakespeare's Romances," London Review of Books, 29:6, p. 21:The chest in which she is coffined washes ashore and is brought to the Lord Cerimon.

    Synonyms

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