coffin
A coffin is a box made for a dead person to be buried in. It's usually wooden and has a lid that closes over the body.
When someone dies, their family might choose a coffin as a final resting place for them. This can be a difficult decision because it involves deciding how to display the body or not, depending on the type of service there will be. If there is a traditional funeral with an open casket, then the coffin will be displayed prominently and often decorated with flowers or other memorials. In this case, people might choose a fancy or expensive-looking coffin as a way to honor their loved one's life. However, many families also choose simpler or more environmentally-friendly coffins for cremation services or burials in nature reserves.
How common is "coffin"?
It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.
noun
A closed box in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial.
Example: 20 May 2018, Hadley Freeman in The Guardian, Is Meghan Markle the American the royals have needed all along? I’d always found the royals a cold proposition, Diana excepted, but the sight of that little boy, his head bent, not daring to look up at his mother’s coffin in front of him was, and remains, genuinely heartbreaking.
Real examples of "coffin" in context
