coffer

Meanings

1. A strong chest or box used for keeping money or valuables safe.
2. An ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome.
3. A temporary watertight structure used during underwater construction of bridges, causeways, ships, etc.
4. A supply or store of money, often belonging to an organization.
5. A trench dug in the bottom of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it with raking fire.

1. To put money or valuables in a coffer
2. To decorate something, especially a ceiling, with coffers.

1. A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English cofre, coffre, from Old French cofre, coffre, from Latin cophinus (“basket”), from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “basket”). Doublet of coffin. Cognate with German Koffer (“a suitcase”).