Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An oblong box in which a corpse is buried.
- noun The horny part of a horse's hoof.
- transitive verb To place in or as if in a coffin.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A basket.
- noun A mold of paste for a pie; the crust of a pie. See
custard-coffin . - noun The chest, box, or case; in which a dead human body is placed for burial: usually made of wood or lead, but sometimes of stone or iron, or even of glass.
- noun A paper twisted in the form of a cone, used as a bag by grocers; a cap or cornet.
- noun In farriery, the hollow part of a horse's hoof, or the whole hoof below the coronet, including the coffin-bone.
- noun In printing: The wooden frame which inclosed the stone or bed of the old form of hand printing-press.
- noun The frame which incloses an imposing-stone.
- noun In milling, one of the sockets in the eye of the runner, which receives the end of the driver.
- noun In mining, old workings open to the day; where the ore was raised to the surface by the cast-after-cast method.
- noun In ceramics, same as
cassette . - To cover with paste or crust. See
coffin , n., 2; also extract under baked-meat, 2. - To put or inclose in a coffin, as a corpse; hence, figuratively, to confine; shut up.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To inclose in, or as in, a coffin.
- noun The case in which a dead human body is inclosed for burial.
- noun obsolete A basket.
- noun A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
- noun obsolete A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
- noun (Far.) The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone.
- noun the foot bone of the horse and allied animals, inclosed within the hoof, and corresponding to the third phalanx of the middle finger, or toe, of most mammals.
- noun the joint next above the coffin bone.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
oblong closed box in which adead person isburied . - noun obsolete A basket.
- noun A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
- noun obsolete A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
- noun The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone. Coffin bone, the foot bone of the horse and allied animals, inclosed within the hoof, and corresponding to the third phalanx of the middle finger, or toe, of most mammals.
- verb transitive To place in a coffin.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb place into a coffin
- noun box in which a corpse is buried or cremated
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word coffin.
Examples
-
Dracula decides to leave and go on vacation to New York City, but his coffin is accidentally sent to Harlem.
-
The nail in your coffin is the arbitration system run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Dan Solin: John Elway's Tackle Masks a Bigger Scandal Dan Solin 2010
-
The nail in your coffin is the arbitration system run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Dan Solin: John Elway's Tackle Masks a Bigger Scandal Dan Solin 2010
-
The nail in your coffin is the arbitration system run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Dan Solin: John Elway's Tackle Masks a Bigger Scandal Dan Solin 2010
-
In Blake, the coffin is his "Printing House in Hell"
-
Ill say it again, the person in the coffin is the person that takes them off the island, and the first person we will see next season.
-
Also in the coffin is a small bag of commemorative medals issued over the course of his pontificate and a sealed document with a description of the pope's life, in Latin.
USATODAY.com - Papal funeral merges spectacle, symbolism 2005
-
But their grandmother said there was too much dew on the grass for them to go down through the meadows that morning; so they borrowed a piece of black cambric from Sally, and spread it over the little box, which they called the coffin; and Frank darkened the windows, as he remembered they had done when his mother died.
Frank and Fanny Mrs. Clara Moreton
-
At the head of the coffin is a great white turban of the old pattern, covered with a dark green and silver scarf.
High Albania Mary Edith 1909
-
The difference is that the Spanish Inquisition was willing to torture using methods that leave marks on the body, while the US chose to use methods that do not cut the skin: cold rooms; sleep deprivation through noise and bright lights; forced standing; “stress positions;” smashing people into wooden walls (not into concrete, which breaks bones); confinement in coffin-like boxes; and the water torture. southpaw says:
Matthew Yglesias » No One Expects The Spanish Inquisition 2010
oroboros commented on the word coffin
Oblong hexagonal container (wide at the shoulders) as opposed to a casket which is a rectangular box.
July 12, 2009
oroboros commented on the word coffin
"Strange Discovery"
July 31, 2009
76boots commented on the word coffin
I was wondering what the difference is between a coffin and a casket....
March 10, 2012