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.
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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.
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)
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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
-
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
The Resolution mine could fill about 25% of the demand for U.S. cooper.
From Reuters ● Apr. 19, 2021
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
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
A baker, cooper, or rope maker usually started his career as an apprentice, which meant that the master who taught him had to be paid.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
Cooper wrote, Hope was the third-best outfielder on the Dodgers’ double-A team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
The squad then separated, with one group moving on to a smaller pitch for a nine-a-side match while another group worked on set-pieces with Iraola's assistants, Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Queer indie filmmaker Gregg Araki returns with ‘I Want Your Sex,’ starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in a pointed examination of Gen Z attitudes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper banned the group on advice from the police and security officials after an escalating spate of break-ins targeting Elbit, an Israeli-owned defence firm.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Dr. Cooper offered him a pocketknife, and then there was a soft click.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
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 Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson
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
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 Casseday, Ben
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 Lynde, Francis
Well," said I, after we had fairly exhausted ourselves, "there's the spoiling in that fellow of as good a novelist as ever coopered out three volumes.
From Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 by Various
Ms Cochrane, a former psychiatric nurse, said she discovered coopering after spotting an advert on Facebook.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2019
Two women have been accepted as coopering apprentices by drinks giant Diageo for the first time.
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
Men employed coopering the flour-casks, fencing the garden, completing the store, and general camp duties.
From Journals of Australian Explorations by Gregory, Augustus Charles
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.
