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# coffin

«coffin» in Mova's school dictionary: **buried or cremated** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a coffin, coffins)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A long box in which a dead person is buried or cremated. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#m1)

2) (idiom) A nail in the coffin: something that helps to end or ruin something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life coffins are part of funerals; in history lessons Egyptian coffins (sarcophagi) and mummies appear; in spooky stories vampires sleep in coffins. Phrases: a nail in the coffin, carry the coffin, open coffin.

### examples

- The coffin was carried into the church. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x1)
- Egyptian mummies were placed in painted coffins. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x2)
- In the story, the vampire climbed out of his coffin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x3)
- (idiom) Losing their best player was the final nail in the coffin for the team. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x4)
- The family put flowers on the coffin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x5)
- Grandad's coffin was made of oak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x6)
- Says the father-in-law from his coffin: [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/#x7)

### note

Countable. US also says "casket". Death and funerals can be sad topics; speak gently. "Nail in the coffin" is an idiom, not about real coffins.

### In the corpora

- [Picture a small church in Wellington: at the front stands a long wooden box covered in flowers, the coffin.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/25-funerals-and-remembering/2/)
- [At a Christian funeral the person's body is in the coffin; the body has stopped working and cannot feel anything.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/62-the-church-funeral/5/)
- [Pallbearers carry the coffin; they may be family, friends or people who work for the funeral director.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/62-the-church-funeral/14/)
- [In a burial the coffin is lowered into a grave in a cemetery or churchyard.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/63-burial-cremation-the-wake-and-the-grave/5/)
- [At many crematorium services curtains close around the coffin at the end, as a sign of goodbye.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/63-burial-cremation-the-wake-and-the-grave/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «coffin» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/coffin/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.