copper

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A soft reddish-brown metal (symbol Cu) used in wires, pipes, and coins.

   The old pipes were made of copper.

2. 2
   adj

   Made of copper, or having its reddish-brown color.

   She wore a copper bracelet that shone in the sun.

3. 3
   noun

   A police officer, especially one in uniform (informal British English).

   If a copper catches you, it's his job to arrest you.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Copper, the reddish-brown metal, comes from Latin cyprium aes, “Cyprus metal,” because Cyprus was the Romans’ main source of copper. The unrelated informal term copper for a police officer arose in the 1840s from cop, “to catch,” making a copper literally a catcher.

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…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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