different between copper vs policemen

English

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) enPR: k?p'?, IPA^(key): /?k?p.?/
• (UK) enPR: k?p'?, IPA^(key): /?k?p.?/
• (US) enPR: kä'p?r, IPA^(key): /?k?.p?/
• Rhymes: -?p?(r)

Etymology 1

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 ?????? (Kúpros, “Cyprus”). Cognate with Dutch koper (“copper”), German Kupfer (“copper”), Icelandic kopar (“copper”).

Noun

copper (countable and uncountable, plural coppers)

2. (uncountable) A reddish-brown, malleable, ductile metallic element with high electrical and thermal conductivity, symbol Cu, and atomic number 29.
3. The reddish-brown colour/color of copper.

4. (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.
   • 1885, General Rules and Regulations Applicable to All Employes of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company:

     Coppers are generally good for a year, if the battery is carefully attended […]

   • 1890, The Manufacturer and Builder, Vol. 22, p. 83:

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

   • 1907, "Instructions for the Care of Callaud Batteries" in Journal of the Telegraph, vol. XL:

     Coppers are not consumed, and their life depends largely on the manner in which they are used.

   1. (countable) A copper coin, typically of a small denomination, such as a penny.
      • "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. […]."

   2. (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.
      • 1797, Dyeing, article in Colin Macfarquhar, George Gleig (editors), Encyclopædia Britannica: or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, Volume 6, Part 1 p.207:

        When the water in the copper boils, the arsenic and tartar, well pounded, is put into it, and kept boiling till the liquor is reduced to about half.

      • 2000, Christopher Christie, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, p. 266:

        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.

6. (entomology) Any of various lycaenid butterflies with copper-coloured upperwings, especially those of the genera Lycaena and Paralucia.

Synonyms

• (colour): chestnut, russet

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

copper (comparative more copper, superlative most copper)

1. Made of copper.
2. Having the reddish-brown colour/color of copper.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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

Synonyms

• (made of copper): coppern (archaic)
• (having the colour/color of copper): coppery

Translations

Verb

copper (third-person singular simple present coppers, present participle coppering, simple past and past participle coppered)

1. To sheathe or coat with copper.

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From cop (“to take, capture, seize”) +? -er (“agent suffix”).

Noun

copper (plural coppers)

1. (slang, law enforcement) A police officer.

Synonyms

• (policeman): police officer, constable, cop, see also Thesaurus:police officer

Derived terms

• bent copper

Related terms

• cop

Translations

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2021) , “Copper”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database
• "copper" in Mindat.org, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2021.

Middle English

Noun

copper

1. Alternative form of coper

English

Noun

policemen

1. plural of policeman

Anagrams

• pimeclone