A temporary watertight barrier or enclosure built underwater or in water to allow construction or repairs in a dry area.
Compound of 'coffer' (from Old French cofre, meaning chest/box) and 'dam' (from Middle Dutch dam). The term describes a box-like structure that acts like a dam, emerging in engineering terminology around the 17th century.
Cofferdams are literal floating fortresses—engineers have used them to build everything from bridge foundations to repair the Statue of Liberty, and they work on a principle so simple (a watertight box) yet so genius!
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