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Webster 1913 Edition

Coffin

Cof′fin

(?; 115)
,
Noun.
[OE., a basket, receptacle, OF.
cofin
, fr. L.
cophinus
. See
Coffer
,
Noun.
]
1.
The case in which a dead human body is inclosed for burial.
They embalmed him [Joseph], and he was put in a
coffin
.
Gen. 1. 26.
2.
A basket.
[Obs.]
Wyclif (matt. xiv. 20).
3.
A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
Of the paste a
coffin
I will rear.
Shakespeare
4.
A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
[Obs.]
Nares.
5.
(Far.)
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.
–
Coffin joint
,
the joint next above the coffin bone.

Cof′fin

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Coffined
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Coffining
.]
To inclose in, or as in, a coffin.
Would'st thou have laughed, had I come
coffined
home?
Shakespeare
Devotion is not
coffined
in a cell.
John Hall (1646).

Webster 1828 Edition

Coffin

COFFIN

, n.
1.
The chest or box in which a dead human body is buried, or deposited in a vault.
2.
A mold of paste for a pie.
3.
A paper case, in the form of a cone, used by grocers.
4.
In farriery, the hollow part of a horses hoof; or the whole hoof above the coronet, including the coffin-bone, which is a small spungy bone in the midst of the hoof, and possessing the whole form of the hoof.

COFFIN

,
Verb.
T.
To put in or inclose in a coffin.

Definition 2024

coffin

coffin

English

Alternative forms

Noun

coffin ‎(plural coffins)

  1. An oblong closed box in which a dead person is buried.
  2. (obsolete) A basket.
    • Wycliffe's Bible
      And all ate, and were filled. And they took the reliefs of broken gobbets, twelve coffins full (Matthew 14:20).
  3. (archaic) A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie.
    • Shakespeare
      Of the paste a coffin I will rear.
    • 1596, The Good Huswife's Jewell
      Take your mallard and put him into the iuyce of the sayde Onyons, and season him with pepper, and salte, cloues and mace, then put your Mallard into the coffin with the saide iuyce of the onyons.
  4. (obsolete) A conical paper bag, used by grocers.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)
  5. The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone.

Usage notes

The type of coffin with upholstery and a half-open lid (mostly in the United States) is called a casket.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

coffin ‎(third-person singular simple present coffins, present participle coffining, simple past and past participle coffined)

  1. (transitive) To place in a coffin.
    • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 19,
      Indians do not hinder the progress of their dead by embalming or tight coffining.
    • 2007, Barbara Everett, "Making and Breaking in Shakespeare's Romances," London Review of Books, 29:6, page 21:
      The chest in which she is coffined washes ashore and is brought to the Lord Cerimon.

Synonyms

Translations

Etymology

coffins

From Middle English cofin, from Old Northern French cofin ‎(“sarcophagus", earlier "basket, coffer”), from Latin cophinus ‎(“basket”), a loanword from Ancient Greek κόφινος ‎(kóphinos, “a basket”).

Pronunciation

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