coffer

/ˈkɔfər/

Other forms: coffers

A coffer is a small safe or lockbox that's meant for keeping precious or valuable items safe. Your grandfather might keep his important papers in a coffer in his study.

You can keep your heirlooms, jewels, and savings bonds in a coffer, a safe chest for tucking such things safely away. Coffer takes on a figurative meaning when you talk about the coffers of a large institution: "There's plenty of money in the government coffers — they just don't want to spend it on education!" Yet another meaning of the word is "decorative sunken panel in a ceiling," such as one you'd see in a mosque, museum, or cathedral ceiling.

Definitions of coffer

1. noun

   (usually plural) the funds of a government or institution or individual
   synonyms: exchequer, treasury

   types:

   public treasury, till, trough

   a treasury for government funds

   bursary

   the treasury of a public institution or religious order

   subtreasury

   a subordinate treasury or place of deposit

   fisc

   a state treasury or exchequer or a royal treasury; originally the public treasury of Rome or the emperor's private purse

   type of:

   cash in hand, finances, funds, monetary resource, pecuniary resource

   assets in the form of money
2. noun

   a chest especially for storing valuables
   type of:

   chest

   box with a lid; used for storage; usually large and sturdy
3. noun

   an ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome
   synonyms: caisson, lacuna

   type of:

   panel

   sheet that forms a distinct (usually flat and rectangular) section or component of something