copper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A ductile, malleable, reddish-brown metallic element that is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and is widely used for electrical wiring, water piping, and corrosion-resistant parts, either pure or in alloys such as brass and bronze. Atomic number 29; atomic weight 63.54; melting point 1,083°C; boiling point 2,595°C; specific gravity 8.96; valence 1, 2. See Table at element.
2. n. A coin, usually of small denomination, made of copper or a copper alloy.
3. n. Chiefly British A large cooking pot made of copper or often of iron.
4. n. Any of various small butterflies of the subfamily Lycaeninae, having predominantly copper-colored wings.
5. n. A reddish brown.
6. v. To coat or finish with a layer of copper.
7. v. Slang To bet against, as in faro.
8. n. Slang A police officer.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Chemical symbol, Cu; atomic weight, 63.3. A metal distinguished from all others by its peculiar red Color. Its crystalline form is that of the cube or regular octahedron (isometric). Its specific gravity is nearly nine times that of water (8.838 native copper, 8.958 electrotype copper). Among the metals in common use, it stands next to gold and silver in malleability and ductility, and next to iron and steel in tenacity. Its melting-point is a little below that of gold and considerably above that of silver. Copper is one of the most widely diffused metals, and occurs in the native state, as well as in a great variety of sulphureted and oxidized combinations. Native copper is not unfrequently met with in the superficial portions of cupriferous lodes, but usually only in small amount. In two regions, however, this metal is mined exclusively in the native state: namely, the south shore of Lake Superior, and Corocoro in Bolivia; but of the two the former is by far the more important, and produces about one sixth of the total yield of the world. In the Lake Superior region the copper occurs in regular fissure-veins, and also in a conglomerate of volcanic origin, forming the cement by which the pebbles are held together. In the flssure-veins large masses of native copper have frequently been found, one such mass weighing over three hundred tons. Most of the copper of the world, previous to the opening of this region, was produced from ores consisting of combinations of the metal with certain mineralizers, such as sulphur and oxygen, and especially sulphur. The most abundant ore is the so-called “yellow copper ore” or copper pyrites, the chalcopyrite of the mineralogist, which is composed of copper, iron, and sulphur, and contains, when chemically pure, 34.6 per cent. of copper. The total copper-production of the world for the year 1886 may be estimated at 215,000 tons, of which the United States produced about one third; it had increased rapidly within the preceding twenty-live years. The copper of the United States comes chiefly from Lake Superior, Arizona, and Montana. Spain, Chili, Prussia, and Australia are other large producers of this metal. Copper has been known from the remotest ages, and was mined extensively on Lake Superior before the advent of Europeans. Its uses are manifold. The most important of them was, before the very general use of iron in ship-building, as a sheathing metal, first by itself, and later as a part of the alloy called yellow metal, a variety of brass. On account of its electric conductivity, copper is largely used for induction-coils and all kinds of electrical apparatus, and for the cores of telegraph-cables. For these uses very pure copper is required; a slight admixture of iron greatly increases its electrical resistance. For domestic purposes copper is made up in a great variety of forms, either by itself, or tinned in order to prevent corrosion by acid liquids. The electrotyping process depends on the deposition by the galvanic current of pure copper from a solution of one of its salts, the metal deposited forming an exact reproduction in copper of an object suspended for that purpose in the bath. The alloys of copper are of great importance, and one of them, bronze, is of high antiquity. The salts of copper are also numerous, and are invaluable in the arts. Copper sulphate, or blue vitriol, is largely used in calico-printing, in electro-metallurgy, and in the preparation of the copper pigments Scheele's green, Schweinfurt green, and Paris green, the latter being much used as an insecticide, principally for the Colorado potato-beetle. See brass, bronze, and yellow metal (under metal).
2. n. A vessel made of copper, particularly a large boiler; specifically, in the plural, the large kettles or boilers in a ship's galley for boiling food for the ship's company. These boilers were formerly of copper, but are now usually of iron. The boilers used in various manufacturing operations, though frequently of other metals still often retain the name copper.
3. n. Hence plural The mouth, throat, and stomach, as the receptacle and digester of food. See hot coppers, below.
4. n. A copper coin; a penny; a cent; collectively, copper money; small change.
5. n. In faro, a check, small disk like a coin, or other convenient object, used to copper with. See copper, v., 2.
6. n. plural Copper butterflies. See butterfly.
7. n. A reel used by wire-drawers to wind wire upon.
8. Consisting of or resembling copper.
9. To cover or sheathe with sheets of copper: as, to copper a ship.
10. In faro, to place a copper (cent) or other token upon (a card), to indicate that the player wishes to bet against that card; bet against: as, to copper a card; to copper a bet.
11. n. The plate of copper which contains or is intended to contain on its surface the engraved or etched design prepared for printing.
12. To coat with copper: as, to copper type; also, to color by means of a salt of copper: as, to copper pickles, etc., in order to make them a bright-green color.
13. n. A policeman. See cop.

Wiktionary

1. n. slang, law enforcement A policeman.
2. n. uncountable a reddish-brown, malleable, ductile metallic element with high electrical and thermal conductivity, symbol Cu, and atomic number 29.
3. n. countable Something made of copper.
4. n. The reddish-brown colour/color of copper.
5. n. countable A copper coin.
6. n. UK, archaic A large pot, often used for heating water or washing clothes over a fire.
7. adj. Made of copper.
8. adj. Having the reddish-brown colour/color of copper.
9. v. To sheathe or coat with copper.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. colloq. A coin made of copper; a penny, cent, or other minor coin of copper.
3. n. A vessel, especially a large boiler, made of copper.
4. n. (Naut.) the boilers in the galley for cooking.
5. v. To cover or coat with copper; to sheathe with sheets of copper.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a reddish-brown color resembling the color of polished copper
2. n. a copper penny
3. n. any of various small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae having coppery wings
4. n. 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
5. v. coat with a layer of copper
6. n. uncomplimentary terms for a policeman