cooper
1 Americannoun
-
coopers
plural
verb (used with object)
-
coopers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coopered,
past participle, past
-
coopering
present participle
-
to make or repair (casks, barrels, etc.).
-
to furnish or fix (usually followed byup ).
verb (used without object)
-
coopers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coopered,
past participle, past
-
coopering
present participle
noun
-
Anthony Ashley. 1st, 3rd, and 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.
-
Gary Frank James Cooper, 1901–61, U.S. actor.
-
Hugh Lincoln, 1865–1937, U.S. hydraulic engineer.
-
James Fenimore 1789–1851, U.S. novelist.
-
Leon N., born 1930, U.S. physicist: Nobel Prize 1972.
-
Peter, 1791–1883, U.S. inventor, manufacturer, reformer, and philanthropist.
noun
-
Anthony Ashley. See (Earl of) Shaftesbury
-
Cary ( Lynn ). born 1940, British psychologist, noted for his studies of behaviour at work and the causes and treatment of stress
-
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
-
Sir Henry. 1934–2011, British boxer; European heavyweight champion (1964; 1968–71)
-
James Fenimore 1789–1851, US novelist, noted for his stories of American Indians, esp The Last of the Mohicans (1826)
-
Leon Neil. born 1930, US physicist, noted for his work on the theory of superconductivity. He shared the Nobel prize for physics 1972
-
Samuel 1609–72, English miniaturist
noun
verb
-
(tr) to make or mend (barrels, casks, etc)
-
(intr) to work as a cooper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coopersimple
-
cooperssimple
-
have cooperedperfect
-
has cooperedperfect
-
am cooperingprogressive
-
are cooperingprogressive
-
is cooperingprogressive
-
have been cooperingperfect progressive
-
has been cooperingperfect progressive
Past
-
cooperedsimple
-
had cooperedperfect
-
was cooperingprogressive
-
were cooperingprogressive
-
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
A barrel was positioned in front of her, which represented the church’s first meeting nearly 250 years ago in a cooper shop off what’s now known as 28th Street in the Georgetown neighborhood.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2022
Key industrial metal cooper hit a record high back in April and has jumped nearly 25% for the second year in row.
From Reuters ● Dec. 22, 2021
By this time, the cooper had seized Mr. Hollis, but, suddenly afraid, let go.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2015
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
![]()
“I’m just sick of the people he stands with,” Stevens told Anderson Cooper on CNN on Sunday night.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2026
So argued department lawyers W. Bradford Reynolds and Chuck Cooper, path-breaking opponents of racial preferences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
That opened the door to spinner Simon Harmer, who had Alex Carey caught reverse sweeping with just two to his name and Cooper Connolly caught behind for a two-ball duck.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Another long score came on a slant route to senior wide receiver Cooper Chila who broke multiple tackles to take it 57-yards to the house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
And I can't help but think: maybe Tiny Cooper should fry his brain with caffeine more often.
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
![]()
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
In France, coopers dried their wood for up to three years, while Americans tended to stop at a year.
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
Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks had gone to Whitaker's, who were coopers, to get some barrels fixed for sorghum, and left the children at home.
From Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences by Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
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
![]()
The ribs below their throbbing fingers became the wobbly staves of a poorly coopered barrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
When the boxes were filled and sealed, they were strongly coopered, by adding four thin laths of strong wood.
From Solaris Farm A Story of the Twentieth Century by Milan C. Edson
Wrong, sir? why, I have lost my leg, and the Captain's clerk says I am not in the Return!—Look here, sir, had Doctor Kelson not coopered me, where should I have been?—Why,
From Tom Cringle's Log by Michael Scott
In this same keg of ours seemed coopered up life and death, at least so seemed it to honest Jarl.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Herman Melville
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.