coppering

Verb (1)

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

1. (transitive) To coat or sheathe (something) with copper (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
2. (transitive) To give (something) a colour by applying a copper salt.
3. (dated, transitive) To give copper coins to (someone); to pay.
4. (US, transitive) In the game of faro: to place a copper coin, or now usually a small disc or token, on (a playing card) to indicate that a player bets against that card.
   1. (US, figuratively, transitive) To bet against (something).
      • [T]hey are going to take this whole Mississippi, and twist it around and make it run several miles up stream. […] [Y]ou have n't got to believe they can do such miracles, have you? And yet you ain't absolutely obliged to believe they can't. I reckon the safe way, where a man can afford it, is to...1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Uncle Mumford Unloads”, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC, page 304

Verb (2)

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

1. (UK, slang, transitive) To inform on (someone) to the police; to nark.

See all 25 meanings of copper