MXa long box in which a dead person is buried or burnt 棺材,灵柩SYN American English casket
→ a nail in somebody’s/something’s coffinat nail1(3)
Examples from the Corpus
coffin• By the 1770s the winding-sheet had almost disappeared, to be replaced by coffinsheets.• His aging friends felt as if they were looking into their own open coffins.• His imperious father tells Alex he wishes it were him in the coffin.• Of course, I thought, it's the ashes of the coffin as well, so it would be quite a weight.• On the way past the coffin Margaret bowed and kissed the lid.• A large estate car or van will be needed to transport the coffin, and four to six people to carry it.• Sons of loutsgrappled with the coffin in vain; they could neither cram it in nor twist it out.• And the heart-rending tragedy of the tinycoffins of a family of victims?
Origincoffin
(1300-1400)Old Frenchcophin, from Latincophinus“basket”, from Greekkophinos
(especially BrE) ➡ see also casketADJECTIVE | VERB + COFFIN | PREPOSITIONADJECTIVE➤wooden木製棺材➤flag-draped覆蓋旗幟的棺材◇the flag-draped coffins of soldiers coming home運回國的覆蓋着國旗的軍人靈柩VERB + COFFIN➤carry, take抬棺材▸➤lower往下放棺材◇The coffin was lowered into the grave.棺材放進了墓穴。PREPOSITION➤in a/the coffin在棺材裏