copperas

[kop-er-uh s]

noun Chemistry.

Nearby words

Origin of copperas

1400–50; late Middle English coperas, variant of Middle English coperose < Medieval Latin (aqua) cuprōsa copperish (water). See copper¹, -ose¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for copperas

Logwood dyes lilac, or pink; to turn red hackles brown, boil them in copperas.
The Teesdale Angler|R Lakeland
Can we then use "red liquor" (acetate of alumina), acetate of iron, copperas, etc.?
The Chemistry of Hat Manufacturing|Watson Smith
We're goin' up to Copperas Creek and there ain't a thing in that.
Mitch Miller|Edgar Lee Masters
Put the wool into this for 1/2 hour; then return it into the alum and copperas for 10 to 15 minutes.
Vegetable Dyes|Ethel M. Mairet

They next tried alum and copperas; but the great secret still escaped them.
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions|Charles Mackay

British Dictionary definitions for copperas

copperas

noun

a less common name for ferrous sulphate

Word Origin for copperas

C14: coperose, via Old French from Medieval Latin cuperosa, perhaps originally in the phrase aqua cuprosa copper water

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012