Definition of "copper" []

• 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. (noun)
• A coin, usually of small denomination, made of copper or a copper alloy. (noun)
• Chiefly British A large cooking pot made of copper or often of iron. (noun)
• Any of various small butterflies of the subfamily Lycaeninae, having predominantly copper-colored wings. (noun)
• A reddish brown. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The stills are generally made of naked copper; the acid works upon that metal, and forms with it the _acetate of copper_, or verdigrise, part of which passes with the whiskey."
• "Meanwhile the master of the house presents himself with a disturbed and gloomy countenance, and doubts much whether we can have any dinner to-day, because no one will sell anything, either for copper or silver; moreover hints darkly that they expect a _copper pronuniciamiento_ to-morrow; and observes that the shops are shut up."
• "Precisely; and those which we prepared by dissolving copper in nitric acid, _nitrat of copper_, and so on."