Word.ws English Dictionary

copperfasten

UK/ˈkɒpəˌfɑːsn̩/US/ˈkɑpɚˌfæsn̩/

copperfasten verb: to protect the timbers of (a ship) with plates of copper secured with copper nails or bolts.

Verb

copperfasten (third-person singular simple present copperfastens, present participle copperfastening, simple past and past participle copperfastened)

  1. (historical, transitive) To protect the timbers of (a ship) with plates of copper secured with copper nails or bolts.
    • She is copper-fastened and copper-bottomed, and a remarkable fine ship.1796, The Hull Advertiser, 9th July 1796
  2. (Ireland, UK, figuratively, transitive) To reinforce, strengthen; to make permanent, embed.
    • We had some striking examples of what happens when a guy gets so big for his britches that any pal of his is automatically a copper-fastened genius.1948, The Evening Independent, November 1948
    • This brings to an end a ten-year campaign by Pol O Murchú and other Irish language activists to copperfasten rights to have Irish language legislation made available […]2010 “Supreme Court rules on law translation”, RTÉ News, May 6, 2010

Forms of copperfasten

third-person singular presentcopperfastens
present participlecopperfastening
past participlecopperfastened
pastcopperfastened
alternative formcopper fasten
alternative formcopper-fasten

Origin of copperfasten

From copper + fasten. From copper sheathing of ship hulls (to protect from damage by marine organisms. Originally copper sheathing but non-copper bolts were used, leading to corrosion. Later copper bolts (fasteners) were also used, eliminating corrosion issues. Literal sense from 18th century, metaphorical sense attested 1948.

Questions about copperfasten

What does copperfasten mean?
Copperfasten means to protect the timbers of (a ship) with plates of copper secured with copper nails or bolts.
What part of speech is copperfasten?
Copperfasten is a verb.
How do you pronounce copperfasten?
Copperfasten is pronounced /ˈkɑpɚˌfæsn̩/ (US).
What is the past tense of copperfasten?
The past tense of copperfasten is copperfastened.

Words near copperfasten in the dictionary

  1. Copperbelt Province
  2. copperbottomed
  3. coppered
  4. copperer
  5. copperers
  6. copperfasten
  7. copperfastened
  8. copperfastening
  9. copperfastens
  10. Copperfield
  11. Copperfieldian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: copperfasten (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “copperfasten.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/copperfasten. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.