[Synthetic comb. of copper head, primarily attrib. = copperhead snake.]
1. A venomous snake (Trigonocephalus contortrix) common in the United States: so called from the reddish brown color of the top of its head.
It is less than 2 feet long; and unlike the rattlesnake strikes without previous warning, whence it has become the type of secret or unexpected hostility.
1823. J. D. Hunter, Mem. Captivity N. Amer., 171. The common black, copper-head, and spotted swamp snakes never fail, I believe, to engage with, and destroy them, whenever they meet.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 409. The black snake and the copperhead have gone to the old rock heaps.
1880. [Mary Allan-Olney], New Virginians, I. 87. The copperhead is said to be more venomous than the common moccasin.
2. U.S. A nickname given, during the Civil War, to a northern sympathizer with the Secessionists of the south. Originated in autumn of 1862. Also attrib.
1863. N. Y. Tribune, 12 Jan., 4/6. The more malignant Copperheads of this State.
1863. Spectator, 15 Aug., 2375. The organ of the Pro-slavery Democrats or Copperheads.
1863. W. Phillips, Speeches, xxiv. 526. Copperhead Democratic sympathy with the aristocracy of the South.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. III. lv. 358. The Democratic party … was long discredited by … the opposition of a considerable section within it (the so-called Copperheads) to the prosecution of the war.
Hence Copperheadism.
1863. Boston Commw., 30 Oct. In the attempt to turn Maryland and Missouri over to copperheadism.
1882. New York Tribune, 15 March. How he [Jackson] would excoriate Tilden for his copperheadism.
