reefer

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːfə/
• Rhymes: -iːfə(r)

From reef +‎ -er.

reefer (plural reefers)

1. (nautical) Someone who reefs sails, especially a midshipman.
   • 1922, Katherine Mansfield, ‘Prelude’, Oxford 2002 (Selected Stories), p. 85:

     Her reefer cap was all on one side and on her cheek there was the print of an anchor button she had pressed on while sleeping.

2. A reefer jacket; a close-fitting jacket or short coat of thick cloth.

• reefer jacket

Clipping of refrigerator.

reefer (plural reefers)

1. (colloquial, chiefly US) A refrigerated, insulated trailer, ship or shipping container.
   • 1988, Jane Stern & ‎Michael Stern, A taste of America, →ISBN, page 41:

     Next to the cash register, a bulletin board was thumbtacked with notes from deadheaders who needed loads heading west, and shippers looking for a reefer (refrigerated truck) going down to Florida.

2. (rail transport, US) a refrigerator car (type of boxcar).

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from regional Spanish grifa (“cannabis”) (Mexico), grifo (“someone who smokes cannabis”) (Central America).

reefer (plural reefers)

1. (slang) A marijuana cigarette.
2. (slang, uncountable) Marijuana.
   • 1982, Grandmaster Flash, "The Message":

     Daddy I don't want to go to school because the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool and all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper if I just got a job learned to be a street sweeper.

• (marijuana cigarette): See also Thesaurus:marijuana cigarette, Appendix:Cannabis slang

• Ferree