Meaning and Origin
What does the name Copper mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
- A common metal of a reddish color, both ductile and malleable, and very tenacious. It is one of the best conductors of heat and electricity. Symbol Cu. Atomic weight 63.3. It is one of the most useful metals in itself, and also in its alloys, brass and bronze.
- A coin made of copper; a penny, cent, or other minor coin of copper.(Colloq)"My friends filled my pockets with coppers." [Franklin.]
- A vessel, especially a large boiler, made of copper.
- pl.[Naut] the boilers in the galley for cooking; as, a ship's coppers ."All in a hot and copper sky." [Coleridge.]
Note: ☞ Copper is the only metal which occurs native abundantly in large masses; it is found also in various ores, of which the most important are chalcopyrite, chalcocite, cuprite, and malachite. Copper mixed with tin forms bell metal; with a smaller proportion, bronze; and with zinc, it forms brass, pinchbeck, and other alloys.
Note: ☞ Copper is often used adjectively, commonly in the sense of made or consisting of copper, or resembling copper; as, a copper boiler, tube, etc.
Note: It is sometimes written in combination; as, copperplate, coppersmith, copper-colored.
Etymology: OE. copercf. D. koper, Sw. koppar, Dan. kobber, G. kupfer), LL. cuper, fr. L. cuprum for earlier Cyprium Cyprium aes, i.e., Cyprian brass, fr. Gr. � of Cyprus (Gr. �), anciently renowned for its copper mines. Cf. Cypreous
- Any of various small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae having coppery wings
- A reddish-brown color resembling the color of polished copper
- Uncomplimentary terms for a policeman
- A copper penny
- A ductile malleable reddish-brown corrosion-resistant diamagnetic metallic element; occurs in various minerals but is the only metal that occurs abundantly in large masses; used as an electrical and thermal conductor
- Coat with a layer of copper
From Middle English coper, from Old English coper, copor (“copper”), from Late Latin cuprum (“copper”), contraction of Latin aes Cyprium (literally “Cyprian brass”), from Ancient Greek Κύπρος (Kúpros, “Cyprus”). Cognate with Dutch koper (“copper”), German Kupfer (“copper”), Icelandic kopar (“copper”).
- (uncountable) A reddish-brown, malleable, ductile metallic element with high electrical and thermal conductivity, symbol Cu, and atomic number 29.
- The reddish-brown colour/color of copper.
- copper colour:
- (countable, dated) Any of various specialized items that are made of copper, where the use of copper is either traditional or vital to the function of the item.
- (countable) A copper coin, typically of a small denomination, such as a penny.
- (Britain, Australia, dated) A large pot, often used for heating water or washing clothes over a fire. In Australasia at least, it could also be a fixed installation made of copper, with a fire underneath and its own chimney. Generally made redundant by the advent of the washing machine.
- Mum would heat the water in a in the kitchen and transfer it to the tin bath.
- I explain that socks can’t be boiled up in the with the sheets and towels or they shrink.
- (entomology) Any of various lycaenid butterflies with copper-coloured upperwings, especially those of the genera Lycaena and Paralucia.
From cop (“to take, capture, seize”) + -er (“agent suffix”).
- (slang, law enforcement) A police officer.
copper was also found in the following language(s): Middle English