coffer
/ˈkɒfə(r)/ (bre, ipa) · [kˈɔfɚ] /ˈkɔːfər/ (ame, ipa) · [kˈɔfɚ] /ˈkȯ-fər ˈkä-/ (ame, mw)
coffer — noun
- coffersingular
- coffersplural
1. a heavy, lockable wooden or metal chest, often bound with iron, that wealthy peo
a heavy, lockable wooden or metal chest, often bound with iron, that wealthy people once used to keep coins, jewels, or important papers safe.
Lukas pried open the old oak coffer hidden under the floorboards of the abbey.
literal use: physical chest
The museum displayed a medieval coffer bound with iron straps and three heavy locks.
typical collocations: bound with iron, heavy locks
Inside the coffer Haruto found a stack of silver coins wrapped in faded silk.
A small brass key on the merchant's belt unlocked the coffer beside his desk.
Pirates dragged the captain's coffer ashore and pried the lid open with a sword.
文法句型
a coffer of [valuables]
用法筆記
Mainly used about chests from the past — castles, monasteries, ships, museums. For a modern locked container, learners would normally say 'safe' or 'strongbox' instead.
常見錯誤
2. the financial resources held by a government, company, or other large institutio
the financial resources held by a government, company, or other large institution — almost always written in the plural ('the coffers').
Higher fuel taxes have poured billions into the government's coffers this year.
common collocation: [revenue] fill the coffers
The charity's coffers were almost empty by March, so Apinya organised an emergency appeal.
common pattern: coffers (be) empty / full
Ticket sales from the World Cup will swell the federation's coffers for years to come.
Critics accused the minister of raiding the public coffers to fund his pet project.
After two bad seasons, the club's coffers were so low that Yasmin feared pay cuts.
文法句型
the coffers of [organization/government]
[verb] the coffers
用法筆記
Almost always plural ('the coffers'), and almost always preceded by 'the' and the owning body (the state's coffers, the company's coffers, the public coffers). Distinguish from sense 1: this never refers to a physical box.
常見錯誤
3. in architecture, one of the square or octagonal hollows set back into a vaulted
in architecture, one of the square or octagonal hollows set back into a vaulted ceiling for decoration, often filled with carving or a painted rosette at its centre.
Each coffer in the Pantheon's dome once held a gilded bronze rosette at its centre.
canonical example: Pantheon dome
Hugo stood on a ladder and brushed dust from every coffer of the chapel ceiling.
The architect drew a ceiling divided into nine carved coffers, each painted dark blue.
Lara photographed the coffers above the altar to study their geometric patterns.
文法句型
a coffer of/in [the ceiling]
用法筆記
Specialist architectural term. A learner mainly meets it in art-history books, museum guides, or guided tours of historic buildings. The adjective form 'coffered ceiling' is far more common in everyday writing than the noun.