coffer

/ˈkɒfə(r)/ (bre, ipa) · [kˈɔfɚ] /ˈkɔːfər/ (ame, ipa) · [kˈɔfɚ] /ˈkȯ-fər ˈkä-/ (ame, mw)

coffer — 名詞

  • coffersingular
  • coffersplural

1. a heavy, lockable wooden or metal chest, often bound with iron, that wealthy peo

1.名詞C1
釋義

錢櫃；寶箱

舊時用來收藏錢財的堅固大箱

a heavy, lockable wooden or metal chest, often bound with iron, that wealthy people once used to keep coins, jewels, or important papers safe.

例句

Lukas pried open the old oak coffer hidden under the floorboards of the abbey.

Lukas 撬開了藏在修道院地板下那只古老的橡木錢櫃。

literal use: physical chest

The museum displayed a medieval coffer bound with iron straps and three heavy locks.

博物館展出了一只用鐵條加固、配有三道厚重鎖頭的中世紀錢櫃。

typical collocations: bound with iron, heavy locks

同義詞
  • chest

    everyday word for a large box; no formal or historical flavour

  • strongbox

    stresses security, not period; can be modern metal

  • casket

    smaller, often for jewels; also formal/historical

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

❌Layla keeps her passport in a coffer in the bedroom.
✅Layla keeps her passport in a safe in the bedroom.
💡'coffer' sounds antique; modern home security is a 'safe'.

2. the financial resources held by a government, company, or other large institutio

2.名詞C1
釋義

金庫；財源

政府或大型組織可動用的資金

the financial resources held by a government, company, or other large institution — almost always written in the plural ('the coffers').

例句

Higher fuel taxes have poured billions into the government's coffers this year.

今年提高燃料稅，為政府金庫挹注了數十億元。

common collocation: [revenue] fill the coffers

The charity's coffers were almost empty by March, so Apinya organised an emergency appeal.

到了三月，慈善機構的金庫幾乎見底，Apinya 因此發起緊急募款。

common pattern: coffers (be) empty / full

同義詞
  • treasury

    very close synonym; often refers to the office that holds the funds, not just the money

  • funds

    neutral, everyday; no grandeur

  • reserves

    focuses on money saved for emergencies

  • war chest

    informal; money set aside for a specific battle, campaign, or takeover

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

❌Our family's coffer is low this month.
✅Our family's finances are tight this month.
💡'coffers' is reserved for governments, large institutions, or large companies, not households.

3. in architecture, one of the square or octagonal hollows set back into a vaulted

3.名詞C2
釋義

天花板凹格

天花板或圓頂上的方格凹陷裝飾

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.

例句

Each coffer in the Pantheon's dome once held a gilded bronze rosette at its centre.

萬神殿圓頂上的每一個凹格，過去中央都鑲有一朵鍍金的青銅花飾。

canonical example: Pantheon dome

Hugo stood on a ladder and brushed dust from every coffer of the chapel ceiling.

Hugo 站在梯子上，把禮拜堂天花板上每一個凹格的灰塵都刷乾淨。

同義詞
  • caisson

    near-synonym in architectural writing; same recessed panel

  • lacunar

    very technical; classical-architecture term for the same feature

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.

常見錯誤

❌A flat painting on the ceiling is a coffer.
✅A flat painting on the ceiling is a fresco; a coffer is a sunken square in the ceiling itself.
💡coffers are three-dimensional recesses, not images.