coppice

American  

[kop-is] / ˈkɒp ɪs /

noun

1. copse.

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coppice British  

/ ˈkɒpɪs /

noun

1. a thicket or dense growth of small trees or bushes, esp one regularly trimmed back to stumps so that a continual supply of small poles and firewood is obtained

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verb

1. (tr) to trim back (trees or bushes) to form a coppice

2. (intr) to form a coppice

Other Word Forms

• coppiced adjective
• coppicing noun

Etymology

Origin of coppice

1375–1425; late Middle English copies < Middle French copeis, Old French copeiz < Vulgar Latin *colpātīcium cutover area, equivalent to *colpāt ( us ) past participle of *colpāre to cut ( coup ¹ ) + -īcium -ice

Example Sentences

"For this reason, hazel was often very common in historical coppice woodlands."

From Science Daily • Nov. 14, 2023

“They are molting now, buried in the mud out there,” Douglas said, gesturing toward the marshy coppice that crowds both sides of the two-lane Queen’s Highway, the major north-south road on Andros.

From Washington Post • Oct. 14, 2015

I leant upon a coppice gate     When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter's dregs made desolate     The weakening eye of day.

From Slate • Jan. 1, 2013

It was the regular opening of the canopies through the coppice regimes in the past that meant a lot of our woodlands had these great displays of spring flowers.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2012

He knew, however, that her strength would not hold out, and at the first sound of pursuit he alighted in a coppice, drove on the horses, and crept away with her through the underwood.

From The Abbess Of Vlaye by Weyman, Stanley J.