ˈcoping-stone
[f. coping n.1 + stone.]
1. One of the stones forming the coping of a wall.
| 1778 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 236 Cemented into the copeing stones on the parapet-wall. 1844 Hood Haunted H. i. vii, The time-worn coping-stone had tumbled after! 1885 E. Arnold Secret of Death 4 The monkey-peoples' mild brown eyes Glittered from bough and coping-stone. |
2. fig. = cope-stone.
| 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. i. 5 Comparative Grammar has deserved the title of ‘the coping stone of philological inquiries’. 1885 J. Payn Talk of Town II. 150 That put the coping-stone on the young fellow's embarrassment. |