cooper
noun
a person who makes or repairs casks, barrels, etc.
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cooper
1 American
[koo-per, koop-er]
/ ˈku pər, ˈkʊp ər /
noun
-
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
Cooper
2
American
[koo-per, koop-er]
/ ˈku pər, ˈkʊp ər /
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.
Cooper
1
British
/ ˈkuːpə /
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)
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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
cooper
2
British
/ ˈkuːpə /
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
The Resolution mine could fill about 25% of the demand for U.S. cooper.
From Reuters ● Apr. 19, 2021
I was responding to Ambient Kestrel but referencing the recommendations from Roman and Ken cooper.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2018
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
In 1937, the entrepreneur—whose company was simply called Ben Cooper Inc.—bought another company, A.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
And it wasn’t just fictional heroes, either: Cooper had a line of costumes based on U.S. presidents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Gray is survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray; his stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper; and son-in-law Lee Barker.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
"All the infrastructure is there, all the wells are drilled, it's ready to turn on," said Matt Cooper, senior vice president at energy consultancy Rystad Energy.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
You can say a lot of bad things about Tiny Cooper.
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
His coopers made the hogsheads the tobacco was prized in, and the tight casks to hold the cider and other liquors.
From Patrician and Plebeian Or The Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker
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
I've always hollered for high terriff in order to hyst the public debt, but now that we've got the national debt coopered I wish they'd take a little hack at mine.
From Nye and Riley's Wit and Humor (Poems and Yarns) by Bill Nye
For Jeanne and I had coopered it up only last year, so that her passengers might land without risking their lives each time.
From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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
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