copper – English noun declension

English noun forms of copper

Noun: copper
Singularcopper
Pluralcoppers

Sample Sentences

  • Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […] [1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:]
  • Through the clear smooth water her copper shone brightly; […] [1836, [Frederick] Marryat, “The Pirate. Chapter VII. Sleeper's Bay.”, in The Pirate, and The Three Cutters. […], London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, page 61:]
  • In the Siberian Traps crustal contamination of mantle magmas is seen to cause the segregation of large volumes of sulfide, which host giant deposits of nickel, copper, and platinum group metals in associated intrusions. [2015, Peter R. Hooper, “Flood Basalt Provinces”, in Haraldur Sigurdsson, editor, Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, 2nd edition, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, part II (Eruption), page 355, column 2:]
  • [Donald] Trump's July 8 announcement of a 50% tariff on copper imports beginning August 1 sent prices surging 13% in one day, up to a record high of $5.69 per pound. [2025 July 17, John Towfighi, “Copper Prices have Surged to Record Highs – and They could Jump Higher. Here’s Why”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2026:]
  • Near-synonyms: chestnut, russet
  • 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. [1885 December, “Main Batteries”, in General Rules and Regulations Applicable to All Employes of the Chicago and Grand Trunk R[ailwa]y Company, Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee R’y, and Railways Operated by Them, Detroit, Mich.: General Offices [of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company, and Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway Company], →OCLC, page 33:]
  • Every millwright should have some soldering tools, and he ought to know how to use them. […] Coppers weighing one pound each are the smallest ever needed in a paper mill, and one 2-pound copper should be bought also. […] Having made the solder and bought "coppers," the first job is to tin them. Some coppers come already tinned. I didn't buy mine, so they surely were not tinned. [1890 August, “Some Soldering Kinks”, in William H. Wahl, editor, The Manufacturer and Builder: A Practical Journal of Industrial Progress, volume XXII, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Henri Gerard, →OCLC, page 183, column 1:]
  • When new battery coppers are received, they should be placed where they will not be exposed to extreme heat, or to the sun, whether they are in a box or not. […] Coppers are not consumed, and their life depends largely on the manner in which they are used. [1907 April 20, J. C. Barclay, “Instructions for the Care of Callaud Batteries”, in Journal of the Telegraph, volume XL, number 646, New York, N.Y.: [Western Union Telegraph Company], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37, columns 1–2:]
  • [H]e slid down from his seat, and darted into the public house, reappearing in a few moments with a copper of ale and a horn in his hand: he and another man held open the horses' mouths, and poured the ale through the horn down their throats. [1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter XIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, page 238:]
  • [H]e went to sleep, taking first out of his pocket a book,[…]. It proved to be my old favorite author, [John] Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in Dutch, finely printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I had ever seen it wear in its own language. [1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, pages 107–108:]
  • Light VVenches may proue plagues to men forſ[w]orne, / If ſo our Copper byes no better treaſure. [c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], signature F3, verso:]
  • I remember the time when rascally company were kept out, and the unlucky boys with toys and balls were whipped away by a beadle. I have seen this done indeed of late, but then it has been only to chase away the lads from chuck, that the beadle might seize their copper. [1712 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, October 14, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 509; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 501:]
  • I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he [the preacher George Whitefield] proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers. […] [H]e finish'd so admirably, that I empty'd my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. [1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 3]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, page 255:]
  • [O]ne feels a difficulty in offering a princess the change for a shilling in coppers. [1876, [Walter Besant, James Rice], chapter V, in The Golden Butterfly. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 83:]
  • "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." / "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal.[…]." [1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “In the Bay of Biscay”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 16:]
  • Mum would heat the water in a copper in the kitchen and transfer it to the tin bath.
  • Socks can’t be boiled up in the copper with the sheets and towels or they shrink.
  • But the chiefeſt of their buſineſs vvas to get Coppers; for each Ship having novv ſo many Men, our Pots vvould not boil Victuals faſt enough, though vve kept them boiling all the day. About 2 or 3 days after they return aboard vvith 3 Coppers. [1697, William Dampier, chapter VII, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, pages 199–200:]
  • When the water in the copper boils, the arſenic and tartar, vvell pounded, is put into it, and kept boiling till the liquor is reduced to about half. [1789, Le Pileur d’Apligny, “[Of the Dying of Cotton Thread.] Of Red.”, in [Jean] Hellot, [Pierre-Joseph] Macquer, Le Pileur d’Apligny, translated by [anonymous], The Art of Dying Wool, Silk, and Cotton. […], London: […] R. Baldwin, […], →OCLC, part III (The Art of Dying Cotton and Linen Thread together with the Method of Stamping Silks, Cottons, &c.), page 497:]
  • [W]hat can you expect from officers who boil their 'tators in a cabbage-net hanging in the ship's coppers, when they know that there is one-third of a stove allowed them to cook their victuals on? [1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XIV, in Peter Simple. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 224:]
  • You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock. [1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], translated by H. L. Brækstad, Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 6:]
  • He rose to his knees, for he had been sitting in the darkness near the copper. [1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Death of the Curate”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), page 230:]
  • 'Vot game now she play?' he asked himself, as he distinguished his wife near one of the pig-scalding coppers. [1907, Barbara Baynton, “Human Toll. Chapter 13.”, in Sally Krimmer, Alan Lawson, editors, Barbara Baynton: Bush Studies, Other Stories, Human Toll, Verse Essays and Letters (Portable Australian Authors), St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 254:]
  • The wet laundry's stove had a long vent in the ceiling which helped to release the steam from the coppers in which the clothes and bed linen were boiled. [2000, Christopher Christie, “Furnishing the Country House”, in The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, Manchester; New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 266:]

Etymology

1. 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.
2. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.
3. cognates
4. * Dutch koper (“copper”)
5. * German Kupfer (“copper”)
6. * Icelandic kopar (“copper”)
7. Compare typologically Argentina (< Latin argentum, an opposite semantic shift); turquoise (akin to Turk). See: Middle English Nouns 'coper', Middle English Nouns 'coper', Old English Nouns 'coper', Latin Nouns 'aes Cyprium', Dutch Nouns 'koper', German Nouns 'Kupfer', Icelandic Nouns 'kopar'.

Verbs referencing "copper"

Irish Nouns copar, English Nouns kobo.