cooper
1 Americannoun
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coopers
plural
verb (used with object)
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coopers,
present (3rd person singular)
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coopered,
past participle, past
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coopering
present participle
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to make or repair (casks, barrels, etc.).
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to furnish or fix (usually followed byup ).
verb (used without object)
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coopers,
present (3rd person singular)
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coopered,
past participle, past
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coopering
present participle
noun
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Anthony Ashley. 1st, 3rd, and 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.
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Gary Frank James Cooper, 1901–61, U.S. actor.
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Hugh Lincoln, 1865–1937, U.S. hydraulic engineer.
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James Fenimore 1789–1851, U.S. novelist.
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Leon N., born 1930, U.S. physicist: Nobel Prize 1972.
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Peter, 1791–1883, U.S. inventor, manufacturer, reformer, and philanthropist.
noun
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Anthony Ashley. See (Earl of) Shaftesbury
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Cary ( Lynn ). born 1940, British psychologist, noted for his studies of behaviour at work and the causes and treatment of stress
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Gary, real name Frank James Cooper. 1901–61, US film actor; his many films include Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952), for both of which he won Oscars
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Sir Henry. 1934–2011, British boxer; European heavyweight champion (1964; 1968–71)
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James Fenimore 1789–1851, US novelist, noted for his stories of American Indians, esp The Last of the Mohicans (1826)
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Leon Neil. born 1930, US physicist, noted for his work on the theory of superconductivity. He shared the Nobel prize for physics 1972
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Samuel 1609–72, English miniaturist
noun
verb
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(tr) to make or mend (barrels, casks, etc)
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(intr) to work as a cooper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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coopersimple
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cooperssimple
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have cooperedperfect
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has cooperedperfect
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am cooperingprogressive
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are cooperingprogressive
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is cooperingprogressive
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have been cooperingperfect progressive
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has been cooperingperfect progressive
Past
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cooperedsimple
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had cooperedperfect
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was cooperingprogressive
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were cooperingprogressive
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had been cooperingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cooper
1350–1400; Middle English couper < Middle Low German kūper or Middle Dutch cūper < Medieval Latin cūpārius ( Latin cūp ( a ) cask, vat + -ārius -ary )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The look of the university is an amalgam of Italian, Moorish and American architectural styles, with a blending of materials such as plaster, cooper and wood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
Currently only those under 30 years old who don't have access to an affordable plan in their area can buy the so-called cooper plans from the ACA insurance exchanges.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2018
Mr. Dembowski said the miller was also a slave, as was the cooper who made barrels.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2018
Alastair Simms says he is the only remaining master cooper in the country, but he has a feeling he is in a resurgent industry.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2014
We strolled past the featureless stone walls of the Archives, past a cooper, a bookbinder, an apothecary....
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader, told me it would be "a gloves-off kind of conference".
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Activist hedge fund Jana Partners sent a letter demanding that contact-lens maker Cooper Cos. replace its chief executive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The "damning" Letby hospital report is also the focus of the Daily Mirror's front page, with Health Secretary Yvette Cooper weighing in on the "reprehensible" treatment of parents who lost their babies.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
But personalities matter to TV viewers, and the new “60 Minutes” is without four of its longtime correspondents — Anderson Cooper, Scott Pelley, Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
I was on one hundred and fifty-eight when Mr. Cooper, the barber, stepped out of his shop, blocking my way.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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Mr. Fox has carefully rooted through economic history as well as roamed through the countryside in search of traditional artisans, such as bell founders and coopers, to interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
In France, coopers dried their wood for up to three years, while U.S. manufacturers tended to stop at a year.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 5, 2016
Skilled coopers still build the barrels, by hand.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2016
But Diageo said the plan would create 110 new jobs aimed at young people including apprentice coopers and coppersmiths.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 6, 2012
Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Reinhold heartily, "go on with you and your masterpiece; you'll soon manage that to the joy of all good coopers.
From Weird Tales, Vol. II. by E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann
The ribs below their throbbing fingers became the wobbly staves of a poorly coopered barrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
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As coopered up into print by a quartet of British writers, the earlier lives of the fascinating Bellamy servants have been drowned in tears and treacle.
From Time Magazine Archive
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August 10.—To day I prepared for another exploration to the N. W. and had all our casks and kegs new coopered and filled with water, to make them water tight.
You stand there and tell me calmly that the government has all these resources coopered up here in a barrel?—that nobody is going to get a chance to make any money out of them?
From The City of Numbered Days by Francis Lynde
Wooden vessels, either turned or coopered were in common use as table furniture.
From The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 by Ben Casseday
Two women have been accepted as coopering apprentices by drinks giant Diageo for the first time.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2019
Ms Cochrane, a former psychiatric nurse, said she discovered coopering after spotting an advert on Facebook.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2019
Seabrook has denied in sworn affidavits that there was anything improper about the investment and says he is coopering fully with the latest federal probe.
From US News ● May 27, 2015
Dressed-up role-players, who demonstrate such crafts as coopering and pottery, help bring alive Portsmouth’s past and make you feel that you, too, might have loved life in Colonial times.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2013
It was discovered this evening that in consequence of the heat, or from careless coopering, our water-casks had let out their contents, and that we had scarcely any fresh water in the ship.
From James Braithwaite, the Supercargo The Story of his Adventures Ashore and Afloat by Thomas Cantrell Dugdale
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.