cofferdam
cof·fer·dam
noun
1.
large watertight chamber used for construction under water
Origin
From coffer + dam. The dental dam sense was introduced in English by dentist Sanford Christie Barnum at New York City in 1864 (by metaphor), but after his century it was maintained only in languages other than English (for example, German Kofferdam as a loanword from 19th-century English).
Phrases
- caisson disease
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.