caisson

[ key-suh n, -son ]

/ ˈkeɪ sən, -sɒn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR caisson ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a structure used in underwater work, consisting of an airtight chamber, open at the bottom and containing air under sufficient pressure to exclude the water.

a boatlike structure used as a gate for a dock or the like.

Nautical.

Also called camel, pontoon. a float for raising a sunken vessel, sunk beside the vessel, made fast to it, and then pumped out to make it buoyant.
a watertight structure built against a damaged area of a hull to render the hull watertight; cofferdam.

a two-wheeled wagon, used for carrying artillery ammunition.

an ammunition chest.

a wooden chest containing bombs or explosives, used formerly as a mine.

Architecture. coffer(def 4).

RELATED WORDS

case, chamber, chest, float, box

Nearby words

Origin of caisson

1695–1705; < French, Middle French < Old Provençal, equivalent to caissa box (see case²) + -on augmentative suffix

Related formscais·soned, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for caisson

The enemy had again outflanked us, and the men lifted me on a caisson.
Memoirs of a Veteran Who Served as a Private in the 60's in the War Between the States|Isaac Hermann
The griping pains that accompany the "Caisson Disease" are excruciating.
Inventions of the Great War|A. Russell (Alexander Russell) Bond
The chief danger of caisson work is the "bends," or "caisson disease."
American Adventures|Julian Street
The excited Frenchman at the caisson had changed his mind evidently.
The Boy Scouts Afoot in France|Herbert Carter

An examination of the caisson showed that the men had struck a vein of sulphuretted hydrogen gas.
Boys' Second Book of Inventions|Ray Stannard Baker

British Dictionary definitions for caisson

caisson

/ (kəˈsuːn, ˈkeɪsən) /

noun

a watertight chamber open at the bottom and containing air under pressure, used to carry out construction work under water

a similar unpressurized chamber

a watertight float filled with air, used to raise sunken shipsSee also camel (def. 2)

a watertight structure placed across the entrance of a basin, dry dock, etc, to exclude water from it

a box containing explosives, formerly used as a mine
an ammunition chest
a two-wheeled vehicle containing an ammunition chest

another name for coffer (def. 3)

Word Origin for caisson

C18: from French, assimilated to caisse case ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for caisson

caisson

1704, from French caisson "ammunition wagon, box, crate," from Middle French caisson "large box" (16c.), from Italian cassone, augmentative form of cassa "a chest," from Latin capsa "a box" (see case (n.2)).