coff

n. [ Turk. qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of berries. Cf. Café. ] 1. The “beans” or “berries” (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. The coffee tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are several species of the coffee tree, as, Coffea Arabica, Coffea canephora, Coffea occidentalis, and Coffea Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes, commercially called “beans” or “berries”. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The beverage made by decoction of the roasted and ground berry of the coffee tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have in Turkey a drink called coffee. . . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. a cup of coffee{ 3 }, especially one served in a restaurant; as, we each had two donuts and a coffee; three coffees to go. [ PJC ]

5. a social gathering at which coffee is served, with optional other foods or refreshments. [ PJC ]

6. a color ranging from medium brown to dark brown. [ PJC ]

☞ The use of coffee is said to have been introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened in Oxford and London. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coffee bug (Zool.), a species of scale insect (Lecanium coffæa), often very injurious to the coffee tree. --
Coffee rat (Zool.) See Musang. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an evergreen shrub of Western U.S. (Rhamnus californicus), bearing small red or black fruits; -- called also the California buckthorn.
Syn. -- California buckthorn, California coffee, Rhamnus californicus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a cake or sweet bread usually glazed after baking, and having added nuts and fruits; it is often served with coffee.
Syn. -- coffee cake. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A house of entertainment, where guests are supplied with coffee and other refreshments, and where men meet for conversation. [ 1913 Webster ]

The coffeehouse must not be dismissed with a cursory mention. It might indeed, at that time, have been not improperly called a most important political institution. . . . The coffeehouses were the chief organs through which the public opinion of the metropolis vented itself. . . . Every man of the upper or middle class went daily to his coffeehouse to learn the news and discuss it. Every coffeehouse had one or more orators, to whose eloquence the crowd listened with admiration, and who soon became what the journalists of our own time have been called -- a fourth estate of the realm. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who keeps a coffeehouse. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A covered pot in which coffee is prepared, or is brought upon the table for drinking. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a tall pot in which coffee is brewed, especially one in which the heating of the water is accomplished by electricity.
Syn. -- coffeepot, coffee pot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A public room where coffee and other refreshments may be obtained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. cofre, F. coffre, L. cophinus basket, fr. Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Coffin, n. ] 1. A casket, chest, or trunk; especially, one used for keeping money or other valuables. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Treasure or funds; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

He would discharge it without any burden to the queen's coffers, for honor sake. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hold, here is half my coffer. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) A panel deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico; a caisson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fort.) A trench dug in the bottom of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it by a raking fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The chamber of a canal lock; also, a caisson or a cofferdam. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coffer dam. (Engin.) See Cofferdam, in the Vocabulary. --
Coffer fish. (Zool.) See Cowfish. [ 1913 Webster ]