Obs. exc. Hist. [a. OF. coffrier, f. coffre COFFER: see -ER.]
1. A treasurer. Obs. exc. Hist.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 319. Sir Rauf þe Coffrers þat tyme was Tresorere. Ibid., 320. Þe Cofrere [orig. Fr. le Cofrere].
1580. North, Plutarch, 755 (R.). He commanded … his cofferer that kept his money, to give a friend of his five and twenty myryades.
1582. N. T. (Rhem.), Rom., xvi. 23. Erastus the cofferer of the citie saluteth you.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 344. In that account made by H. Leicester, Cofferer to Thomas Earle of Lancaster vnder Edward the second.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., II. 550. Ye fortune’s cofferers! Ye pow’rs of wealth!
1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., III. iii. 114. The Bank of Amsterdam, then the most famous Corporation of Cofferers … in Europe.
b. An officer of the royal household of England, next under the controller; he had the oversight of the other officers. Hist.
1538. Leland, Itin., IV. 60. One notable Tombe … wherein William Cope, Coferer to K. H. 7. is buried.
1570. Act 13 Eliz., c. 4 § 1. Any … Cofferer of the Houshold to the Queen’s Majesty.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. II. xii. (1743), 101. The cofferer … is to pay the wages of the king’s servants above and below stairs.
1780. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 326. The king’s household … has … three treasurers;—the treasurer of the chamber, the treasurer of the household, and … the cofferer of the household.
1860. Froude, Hist. Eng., VI. 18. Sir Edmund Peckham, Cofferer of the household, was found to have gone off with the treasure.
† 2. One who makes coffers. Obs.
1401. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 109. Girdelers, coferers, ne corvysers, ne no manere of artificeris.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B. (1843), 10. Coferers, carde makers, and caruers.
