copper

Pluralcoppers (some meanings)

Formscoppers, coppering, coppered

1. 1
   raw metalnoununcountable

   A reddish-brown, easily shaped metal that conducts heat and electricity well, with the chemical symbol Cu.

   Electricians prefer copper for wiring because it conducts electricity so efficiently.

   Ancient smiths mixed copper with tin to make bronze.

   UsageNo a for the metal: made of copper, the price of copper. A copper is a coin or, in slang, a police officer.

2. 2
   adjective

   Made of copper.

   Copper pipes run throughout the basement of the old building.

   They installed a copper gutter along the roofline.

3. 3
   the coloradjective

   Having a reddish-brown color like that of polished copper.

   The hills turned a copper shade as the sun went down.

   Her copper hair stood out against the gray sky.

   UsageMostly before a noun: copper hair, a copper sky. It can be graded, more copper, and coppery is a common alternative.

   Similarrusset, auburn, bronze, ginger

   Note

   This is the color adjective, and it can carry the metal's heat and shine with it: Coleridge's "hot and copper sky" in The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere glows like heated metal, while Maria M. Gillan's "copper hair" shows the everyday use. Context keeps the two apart, because copper hair is almost never metal. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Coleridge wrote the poem originally titled The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere. en.wikipedia.org
   • The poem contains the exact words 'hot and copper sky'. en.wikisource.org
   • Maria M. Gillan used the phrase 'copper hair'. kaikki.org
4. 4
   the colornouncountable or uncountable

   A reddish-brown hue like that of the polished metal of the same name.

   Her hair shone a rich copper in the afternoon light.

   By late October the maple leaves had faded from green to a deep copper that glowed in the evening sun.

   Similarrusset, auburn

5. 5
   coinnouncolloquialUKcountable

   A coin of low value, once made of copper and now usually of bronze or copper-plated steel, such as a British 1p or 2p piece.

   The boy counted his coppers, hoping for enough to buy bread.

   I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers.

   1799, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

   UsageMost often plural: a few coppers, count your coppers.

   Similarpenny

   Note

   In his Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin sets "a handful of copper money" beside silver dollars and gold pistoles, then decides "to give the coppers." The word ranks coins by their metal, with copper below silver and gold. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Franklin's Autobiography contains both quoted phrases and contrasts copper money with silver dollars and gold pistoles. gutenberg.org
   • The passage presents copper, silver and gold as successively more valuable money. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   metal itemnouncountable

   Any of various items made of copper, where the metal is either traditional or essential to the item's function.

   At the brewery, the wort is boiled with hops in a large copper before it is cooled.

   Some coppers come already tinned. I didn't buy mine, so they surely were not tinned.

   1890, The Manufacturer and Builder

   Note

   A trade word, once common in telegraphy and the workshop and still current in brewing, where the boiling kettle is the copper. In the Journal of the Telegraph of 1907, the coppers of Callaud batteries "are not consumed." The Manufacturer and Builder in 1890 mentions coppers that "come already tinned." Because the meaning shifted from trade to trade, only context tells you which object is meant. In current English, it is clearer to name the item outright. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • In brewing, the vessel used to boil wort is called the copper. fullers.co.uk

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