coffers
coffers — noun
1. the supply of money that a government, company, or organization holds and can dr
the supply of money that a government, company, or organization holds and can draw on to spend — for example, the central budget of a country or the funds belonging to a charity.
The new oil deal will pour billions into the national coffers next year.
metaphorical 'pour into [the] coffers' for incoming revenue
Daichi warned the trustees that the museum's coffers were almost empty.
collocation: coffers are/were empty
Donations from the wedding ceremony helped fill the charity's coffers before winter.
Years of corruption had drained the city's coffers long before Maeve took office.
Without fresh tax revenue, the provincial coffers will run dry by March.
文法句型
the coffers of [organization]
fill / drain / empty the coffers
用法筆記
Almost always plural and almost always preceded by a possessive or 'the' — bare 'coffers' without context is unusual. Common verbs are fill, drain, empty, swell, and replenish.
常見錯誤
2. a strong box, often heavy and made of wood or iron with a lock, used in earlier
a strong box, often heavy and made of wood or iron with a lock, used in earlier times to keep coins, jewels, or important papers safe.
Ryan lifted the heavy iron coffer's lid and saw rows of silver coins inside.
The old castle still has a heavy oak coffer where the family kept their jewels.
collocation: an oak / iron coffer
The merchant locked the day's earnings inside a small coffer beside his bed each night.
Inside the museum, a wooden coffer from the 1500s sat behind thick glass.
文法句型
an iron / wooden / oak coffer
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 by reference — sense 2 names a single physical object (a heavy chest), while sense 1 is a metaphorical, always-plural mass noun for an organization's money. If you can point at it and lift its lid, it is sense 2.
常見錯誤
3. in architecture, a square or many-sided sunken panel set into the underside of a
in architecture, a square or many-sided sunken panel set into the underside of a ceiling, dome, or arch as a decoration, usually arranged in a repeating grid.
Each coffer in the cathedral ceiling was painted gold and pale blue.
Hoa pointed up at the deep coffers of the dome, each carved with small flowers.
domain-specific: coffers in a dome
The library has a wooden ceiling broken up into rows of square coffers.
Restorers spent two years cleaning the painted coffers in the Roman vault.
文法句型
a coffer in the ceiling / vault / dome
用法筆記
This sense is restricted to architecture; outside that field, native speakers will not recognise it. Often paired with 'coffered ceiling' (adjective form) which is more common in everyday architectural description.