Definition of "coffer" [cof•fer]

• A strongbox. (noun)
• Financial resources; funds. (noun)
• A treasury: stole money from the union coffers. (noun)
• Architecture A decorative sunken panel in a ceiling, dome, soffit, or vault. (noun)
• The chamber formed by a canal lock. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It's no secret the lion's share of the money in King's campaign coffer comes from the electric industry."
• "Because most of the sea wall is submerged, engineers had to build what is called a coffer dam -- essentially a steel bathtub inside the Tidal Basin."
• "They constructed what is called a coffer dam dike that with the velocity that comes through the river, it undermined that, coming in through the lower levels and so forth."