caisson

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French caisson.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈkeɪs(ə)n/
• (US) IPA: [ˈkeɪsɑn], [ˈkeɪsn̩]

Noun

caisson (plural caissons)

1. (engineering) An enclosure, from which water can be expelled, in order to give access to underwater areas for engineering works etc.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, p. 213:

     Caissons were enclosed dry chambers built on river beds to facilitate the construction of bridge piers.

2. The gate across the entrance to a dry dock.
3. (nautical) A floating tank that can be submerged, attached to an underwater object and then pumped out to lift the object by buoyancy; a camel.
4. (military) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn military vehicle used to carry ammunition (and a coffin at funerals).
5. (military) A large box to hold ammunition.
6. (architecture) A variant of coffer.

Derived terms

• caisson disease

Translations

enclosure from which water can be expelled

• Bulgarian: кесон (bg) (keson) m
• Finnish: kasuuni (fi)

• German: Caisson (de) m

gate across the entrance to a dry dock

• Finnish: sulkuportti (fi)

floating tank that can be submerged

• Bulgarian: парашут (bg) (parashut) m

two-wheeled horse-drawn military vehicle

large box of ammunition

architecture: coffer — see coffer

Anagrams

• assicon
• casinos

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɛ.sɔ̃/, X-SAMPA: /kE.sO~/

Noun

caisson m (plural caissons)

1. box

See also

• boîte f

Anagrams

• casinos, casions