coffin
noun
the box or case in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial; casket.
coffin
1 American
[kaw-fin, kof-in]
/ ˈkɔ fɪn, ˈkɒf ɪn /
noun
-
coffins
plural
-
the box or case in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial; casket.
-
the part of a horse's foot containing the coffin bone.
-
Printing.
-
the bed of a platen press.
-
the wooden frame around the bed of an early wooden press.
-
verb (used with object)
Coffin
2
American
[kaw-fin, kof-in]
/ ˈkɔ fɪn, ˈkɒf ɪn /
noun
-
Levi, 1798–1877, U.S. abolitionist leader.
-
Robert P(eter) Tristram, 1892–1955, U.S. poet, essayist, and biographer.
coffin
British
/ ˈkɒfɪn /
noun
-
a box in which a corpse is buried or cremated
-
the part of a horse's foot that contains the coffin bone
verb
-
(tr) to place in or as in a coffin
-
engineering another name for flask
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of coffin
1300–50; Middle English cofin < Old North French < Latin cophinus < Greek kóphinos a kind of basket
Explanation
The long wooden box in which a dead body is kept for burial or cremation is called a coffin. At a graveside funeral, you'll see the coffin lowered into a grave. Most coffins are made of wood, though they can also be steel, fiberglass, or bamboo. A coffin is generally thought of as the same thing as a casket, although some people distinguish between a six-sided coffin and a four-sided casket. The earliest meaning of coffin, from the 14th century, was "box for valuables," from the Latin cophinus, "basket or hamper," and the Greek root kophinos, "a basket."
Vocabulary lists containing coffin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
No one sleeps in a coffin and everyone seems to go out during the day for work or school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Carried aloft by druids in a closed coffin, the show's host arrived in a church, to greet 21 anxious-looking celebrities.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Queen Sonja, who was also visibly emotional during the ceremony, laid a red rose on Harald's coffin.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Three men removed the deceased from a body bag, which they tossed aside, before returning the corpse to the coffin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
There were flowers to be purchased, along with a white metal coffin and a marble tombstone.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
“People would tell me, ‘Kids are not going to understand,’” Coffin said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Coffin was especially interested in alluding to the work of special effects master Ray Harryhausen, who created the creepy hovering aircraft in 1956’s “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Coffin, the co-creator and voice of the Minions, was born in France to Franco-Indonesian intellectuals who only turned on the TV for old movies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Instead, Coffin sketches his idea of a Hollywood creep, the phony let’s-do-lunch schmoozer, with Jeff Bridges voicing a set of twin studio moguls who play bad boss/backhanded boss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
One piece of the mudslinging was the Coffin Handbill, a famous campaign poster published by Adams supporters that showed rows of coffins and listed Jackson’s “bloody deeds”—his duels, the deaths of militiamen under his command.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Thousands of protesters wore red and carried symbolic coffins during a demonstration in Mexico City on Saturday, demanding answers about the 43 trainee teachers who went missing 12 years ago.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Investors went ga-ga over industrial agglomerations for tin, oil, electric utilities, flour, furniture, copper, pottery, leather, borax, oatmeal, even coffins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The earliest burials were generally spaced apart from one another, and the bodies were placed inside coffins.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Women leaned from apartment windows, filming the march on their phones, while others scattered rice and rose petals over the men carrying the coffins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
I wondered what a crypt was like, if there were coffins standing there.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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