casket

[kas-kit, kah-skit]

noun

1. a coffin.

2. a small chest or box, as for jewels.

verb (used with object)

1. to put or enclose in a casket.

casket

/ ˈkɑːskɪt /

noun

1. a small box or chest for valuables, esp jewels

2. another name for coffin

Other Word Forms

• casketlike adjective
• uncasketed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of casket¹

1425–75; late Middle English < ?

Word History and Origins

Origin of casket¹

C15: probably from Old French cassette little box; see _case ²

Example Sentences

By the time the truth came out, Emmett had been dead for fifty-three years and the photographs taken of him in the casket made White America see the brutality it often ignored or denied.

Read more on Literature

A group of figures surround an open casket in 1999’s “Family Grief,” their dark garments and mournful poses contrasting with the bright blue shirt of the man resting within.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“When I looked at him in the casket, I was like, ‘Wait a second.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His family says he ended his life as a private citizen whose dying wish—literally from his deathbed—was that Hichilema not even be allowed near his casket.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

His remains are to stay in a cemetery outside Paris, but officers carried a symbolic casket draped in a French flag into the former church on the capital's left bank under a cascade of applause.

Read more on Barron's