[f. COPPER sb.1]
1. trans. To cover with copper; to sheathe the bottom and sides of a ship with copper.
1530. Palsgr., 498/2. I copper.
1781. Westm. Mag., IX. 325. A very large frigate … the only one the Spaniards have coppered.
1809. Med. Jrnl., XXI. 174. Coppering her bottom.
1862. Macm. Mag., June, 167. A bronze statue and a cast-iron one coppered by electricity.
2. In the game of faro: To lay a copper coin or other token upon (a card) to indicate that the player bets against that card; to bet against. (U.S.)
1892. Correspt. in Cincinnati. If he bet the card to lose, he put an old-fashioned copper cent on the top of the silver or gold; in other words he ‘coppered’ it. To ‘copper’ a thing, therefore, is to bet or estimate that it will lose: you ‘copper’ a horse in a race.
Hence Coppering vbl. sb. and ppl. a.; also as sb. the copper sheathing of a ship’s bottom.
c. 1865. G. Gore, in Circ. Sc., I. 213/1. Each room, whether for coppering, silvering, or gilding. Ibid., 233/1. They are then immersed in the … coppering liquid, and a thin film of copper is thrown down.
