coffer

• copher (obsolete)
• cophre (obsolete)

From Old French cofre, coffre, from Latin cophinus (“basket”), from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “basket”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒfə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔfɚ/
• (US, cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑfɚ/
• Homophones: cougher
• Rhymes: -ɒfə(ɹ)

coffer (plural coffers)

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

   Synonym: strongbox

2. (architecture) An ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome.

   Synonym: caisson

   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, p.135:

     Prolapsed and waterstained ceiling, the sagging coffers.

3. A cofferdam.
4. A supply or store of money, often belonging to an organization.
   • Francis Bacon (Can we date this quote?)

     He would discharge it without any burden to the queen's coffers.

   • Shakespeare (Can we date this quote?)

     Hold, here is half my coffer.

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

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

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.

• coffered ceiling

coffer (third-person singular simple present coffers, present participle coffering, simple past and past participle coffered)

1. (transitive) To put money or valuables in a coffer
2. (transitive) To decorate something, especially a ceiling, with coffers.

• coffer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• coffer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• coffer in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• coffer at OneLook Dictionary Search