coffin window
nounEtymology From the urban legend that coffins were slid out of the windows from upper floors.
1
Synonym of witch window.
- He stuck his big shoulders out the coffin window and bellowed at them, he seized their hands impartially and bellowed to them when they were close in the same voice he used for distance.1921, John Henry Walsh, chapter XIV, in Glenwood of Shipbay, Macmillan Publishers, page 95:
- Beside it, in the front wall of the house, is a coffin window, an object that I have never before come across.1930 July 23, Viscountess Wolseley, “Historic Houses of Sussex No. 33—Oxenbridge, in Iden”, in The Sussex County Magazine, volume IV, number 7, page 538:
2 more examples
- There was a “coffin window” on the stairs. Since most people died at home, space was required to turn the coffin to take it downstairs—hence, a coffin window.[1991, Jane Scnhell, Changing Gears: Bicycling America's Perimeter, Milner Press, →ISBN, page 330:
- Some locals also call them "coffin windows," based on a theory that they were used to slide coffins out of upper floors. Architectural historians find this equally implausible — you wouldn't carry a coffin upstairs to begin with.[2026 January 16, Ellsworth Toohey, “Vermont's tilted "witch windows" were supposedly designed to stop witches”, in BoingBoing, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2026: