Meaning
The box in which a dead person is buried. Beyond the plain object, the coffin sits at the heart of the long Jamaican tradition of the funeral and the send-off, and it carries its own weight of custom and superstition: how it is carried, the belief that it may 'turn' or grow heavy at the hand of a wrongdoer, and the care taken so the dead rest easy and do not return as a duppy. Talk of the coffin runs through wakes, nine-nights, and funeral lore.
Examples
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Six man carry di coffin to di grave.
Six men carried the coffin to the grave.
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Dem seh di coffin get heavy at di gate.
They say the coffin grew heavy at the gate.
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Di coffin lower dung slow inna di grave.
The coffin was lowered slowly into the grave.
Origin
From English 'coffin'; the burial box, wrapped in funeral custom. See [[nine-night]], [[dead-yard]].
How it’s used
The burial box; central to funeral custom and superstition. See [[nine-night]], [[dead-yard]].