1A small ornamental box or chest for holding jewels, letters, or other valued objects.

1. 1.1British A small wooden box for cremated ashes.
   〈英〉骨灰盒
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Her coffin was placed next to his in a vault within the chapel, where the casket containing the ashes of Princess Margaret was also interred.
   • Inside a lead box was a casket that had contained his heart and entrails, ensuring that he could not rise from the dead.
   • The ashes were recently delivered to our friend's home - in a smart wooden casket complete with brass nameplate.
   • But under these were three wooden caskets, so neat it was clear that someone had looked after them.
   • If the deceased was cremated and returned to a country outside of Canada, then the applicable tax on the cremation casket and the urn that contained the ashes would be eligible for a refund.
   • When she died, her body was laid to rest before the high alter and a casket containing her husband's embalmed heart was placed beside her.
   • It was even said that when she died aged 44 he used the casket which had contained her ashes to mix cement.
   • But the casket containing the ashes is initially being placed in another vault at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
   • Investigating officers say the vandals had to dig 3ft into the ground to get at the wooden casket containing Margaret's ashes.
   • The cremated bones are thought to have originally lain in a locked wooden casket decorated with lion-headed studs and bronze rings.
   • Legend has it that he threw the casket containing his old leader's heart into the enemy ranks, bidding the Bruce to lead him into battle one last time.
   • The other casket with the letter ‘Ma’ belonged to Maudgalyanayana and contained two small fragments of bones.
   • Almost five years after her first funeral, her grave was reopened and a small casket containing the missing parts placed inside.
   • The partner of the rock star, who died after a drug-fuelled night of sex with a Las Vegas stripper, has revealed she still sleeps every night with a casket containing his ashes.
2. 1.2North American A coffin.
   〈主北美〉棺材
   Example sentencesExamples

   • I hate caskets, that is why I want to be cremated.
   • The coffin was decked with flowers and a miniature pit bull terrier was placed on top of the casket along with a black Celtic Cross.
   • It's the photograph that we remember: a picture of the dead black boy in his casket, his face bloated, mutilated, no longer human.
   • On cue they lifted the gray box and stepped forward as one, sliding the casket into the hearse.
   • By its size, the box appeared to contain a child's casket.
   • A knot forms in Jared's stomach as he watches the casket go by; the casket that contains the body of his beloved.
   • Her body shook with her cries, as she looked up at the wooden casket that held her beloved inside.
   • Cremation reduces the cost of dying, since the casket is a major expense and for cremation a plain rigid container, wood and/or other material, is sufficient.
   • Thunder rolled viciously as the six men carried the rough-hewn casket containing the body of the kingdom's youngest princess.
   • Police top brass carry the casket, wrapped in the colours of the South African flag, to the grave.
   • The next moment, however, he was looking down on two black caskets that held his mother and father's body.
   • The two most common ways to handle the remains of a loved one is to purchase a casket and bury them or have their remains cremated.
   • Most of the kids from school who knew him made an effort to show up, and a sea of black surrounding the casket where he lay.
   • Then the children put their letters into the casket and kissed their mother's forehead, then Jonathon put his letter in the casket and looked at his wife.
   • Douglas Duff's arrival by mail boat at Dublin's North Wall was made memorable when he spotted four caskets covered by Union Jacks awaiting return to England.
   • After we ran a story about beating the high costs of funerals, we heard from many readers who expressed interest in building wooden caskets for others.
   • He gave it to my mother to clutch to her chest as the casket was lowered into the ground.
   • During the wake, which can last up to three or four days, the casket is left open, and the mourners can kneel and say a prayer.
   • The escort carries with him or her a flag during the flight which is then draped over the casket upon arrival.
   • An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel when he came upon a casket containing a mummy.

   Synonyms

   coffin, box

   informal wooden overcoat

   historical sarcophagus, cist