caisson
See also: Caisson
English
Noun
caisson (plural caissons)
- (engineering) An enclosure from which water can be expelled, in order to give access to underwater areas for engineering works etc.
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, p. 213:
- Caissons were enclosed dry chambers built on river beds to facilitate the construction of bridge piers.
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, p. 213:
- The gate across the entrance to a dry dock.
- (nautical) A floating tank that can be submerged, attached to an underwater object and then pumped out to lift the object by buoyancy; a camel.
- (military) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn military vehicle used to carry ammunition (and a coffin at funerals).
- 1908, Edmund Louis Gruber, “The Caissons Go Rolling Along”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Over hill, over dale / As we hit the dusty trail, / And those caissons go rolling along.
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- (military) A large box to hold ammunition.
- (military) A chest filled with explosive materials, used like a mine.
- (architecture) A coffer.
Derived terms
Translations
enclosure from which water can be expelled
gate across the entrance to a dry dock
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floating tank that can be submerged
two-wheeled horse-drawn military vehicle
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large box of ammunition
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architecture: coffer — see coffer
French
Etymology
From Old Occitan caisson, from caissa; synchronically analysable as caisse + -on.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɛ.sɔ̃/
See also
- boîte f
Further reading
- “caisson” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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