n. A box, properly one of considerable size, made of wood, iron, or other material, with a hinged lid, used as a depository for treasure, papers of record, clothing, or other articles.n. Specifically In com., a box-shaped case in which certain kinds of goods, as tea, indigo, opium, etc., are packed for transit.n. The quantity such a case contains; a customary but uncertain measure of capacity for a few commodities: as, a chest of isinglass is 3½ hundredweight; a chest of cochineal is 1½ hundredweight.n. A coffin.n. The trunk of the body from the neck to the belly; the thorax (which see).To deposit in a chest; hoard.To place in a coffin.n. Debate; quarrel; strife; enmity.n. The funds of a public institution, or the strong box, coffer, or place where such funds are, or are supposed to be, kept; the treasury: as, a military chest; the university chest; the chest for the relief of maimed manners; etc.n. In organ-building, see wind-chest.