Coffin
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˈkɒfɪn/
- US IPA: /ˈkɔfɪn/
- US IPA: /ˈkɑfɪn/
- Rhymes: -ɒfɪn
Alternative forms
- cophin archaic
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)- An oblong closed box in which a dead person is buried.
- (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).
- A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
- ShakespeareOf the paste a coffin I will rear.
- (obsolete) A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
- 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
- casket (US)
Derived terms
Verb
- (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.