copper

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to coat with a layer of copper

   I coppered the baby shoes.

2. 2
   noun

   A reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.

   Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […]

3. 3
   noun

   The reddish-brown colour of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).

   Near-synonyms: chestnut, russet

4. 4
   noun

   Any of various specialized items made of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1), where the use of the metal is either necessary or traditional to the function of the item.

   Coppers are generally good for a year, if the battery is carefully attended; they should, however, be removed before they have increased to such a size that their removal might cause the destruction of the glass jars.

5. 5
   adj

   Made of copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).

   Contrasting vividly with this ruin was the neat dresser, stained in the fashion, pale green, and with a number of copper and tin vessels below it, the wall-paper imitating blue and white tiles, and a couple of coolured supplements fluttering from the walls above the kitchen range.

6. 6
   adj

   Having the reddish-brown colour of copper.

   All in a hot and copper sky, / The bloody Sun, at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the Moon.

7. 7
   noun

   A police officer, especially one in uniform.

   If you're caught by a copper, it's his job to pinch you, isn't it? You can hold him up with a gun, but he's got to come on, even if he gets killed. […] It's not fair on the coppers either; they've got their duty to do, and it's dirty to kill a man for doing his job.

8. 8
   noun

   Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a private detective or a security guard.

   I went to the phone and asked the girl to send the house copper [of the hotel] up.

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English coper, copper (“copper ore; copper metal; bronze”), from Old English coper, copor (“copper”), from Late Latin cuprum (“copper”), a contraction of Latin aes Cyprium (literally “Cyprian brass or copper”), ultimately from Ancient Greek Κῠ́προς (Kŭ́pros, “Cyprus”) (a major source of copper during the Near East’s Bronze Age), from the name of a Northwest Semitic goddess from the root כ־ב־ר/ك ب ر (k b r) (“related to being big, large; great; or old”). Doublet of kobo. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the nou…