copy--prophetes.ai

▪ I. copy, n. (a.)
    (ˈkɒpɪ)
    Forms: 4–7 copye, 4–8 copie, (4 kopy, 5 coopy, 6 coopie), 6 coppye, 6–7 coppie, 6–8 coppy, 4– copy.
    [a. F. copie (13th c. in Littré) = Pr. copia, ad. L. cōpia abundance, plenty, multitude. Branch II, found in med.L. and all the Romanic langs., and from which all the Eng. sense-development starts, appears to have arisen out of such L. phrases as dare vel habere copiam legendi to give, or have, the power of reading, facere copiam describendi to give the power of transcription, to allow a transcript to be made, whence med.L. copia ‘transcript’.]
    A. n. I. † 1. a. Plenty, abundance, a copious quantity.

c 1375 Barbour Troy-bk. ii. 774 Of teres full gret copye. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 301 Spayne..haþ grete copy and plente of castell. 1514 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 58 If there be copie of prestes. 1593 Lodge Will. Longbeard Addr. to Rdr., No conceits..but such as have coppy of new coined words. 1607 J. Carpenter Spir. Plough 209 All that copie or riches..is nought else but extreame povertie. 1632 B. Jonson Magn. Lady ii. i, Ple. Which would you choose now, mistress? Pla. 'Cannot tell: The copy does confound one. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Copie, plenty, abundance.

† b. Fullness, plenitude. Obs.

1483 Caxton æsop (E.E.T.S.) 295 Requyrynge hym that she might haue the copye of his loue. a 1500 Orol. Sap. in Anglia X. 371 In þe copye of grete delytes.

† c. esp. of language: Copiousness, abundance, fullness, richness. copy of words: = L. copia verborum. Obs.

1531 Elyot Gov. i. x, Whereby he shall..attaine plentie of the tongues called Copie. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 3 To excell in varietie of sentences, and copie of words. 1598 Florio World of Words Ep. Ded. A v a, The copie and varietie of our sweete-mother-toong. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 22 The proprietie, puritie and copie of our English tongue. Ibid. 117 To get propriety and copie of words and phrases. a 1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. Pref., The Copie of it, and Matchablenesse with other tongues.

† d. ? = cornucopia. Obs. rare.

1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 46 b, Everie one of them in their right hand did holde a copie full of all kinde of fruites. Ibid. 98 b, In her right hand she held a copie full of rype graine.

II. A transcript or reproduction of an original.
2. A writing transcribed from, and reproducing the contents of, another; a transcript.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 293 The barons..Of þing þat þei wild ask bad him þe copie bere. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 50 Þat we shuld send ȝou a kopy of our statuȝ. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 352 Copyes were made of the sayd statutes. 1555 Eden Decades 171 The coppie of the bull. 1563 Nowell in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 20 The coopie of the Catechism which I caused to be wryten out. 1653 Walton Angler 106 The Copy of a Sermon. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xvi. (1695) 382 Though the attested Copy of a Record be good proof, yet the Copy of a Copy never so well attested..will not be admitted as a proof in Judicature. 1776 Trial Nundocomar 45/1 The copy I wrote remained with..Nundocomar; the original remained with Pudmohun Doss. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Grk. Test. 5 No such perfect similarity between the copy and the original.

3. A picture, or other work of art, reproducing the features of another.

1580 Baret Alv. C 1267 An example written, or painted out, a copie or patterne. 1719 J. Richardson Sci. Connoisseur 150 If any One says That Picture is a Copy I'll break his Head. 1719 ― Art Crit. 176 Coppies are usually made by Inferiour Hands. 1749 Berkeley Wks. IV. 319 The third [picture] is a copy, and ill-coloured. 1801 Fuseli Lect. Art (1848) 348 Our language, or rather those who use it, generally confound, when speaking of the art, ‘copy’ with ‘imitation’, though essentially different in operation and meaning. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. 125 Never buy a copy of a picture..All copies are bad; because no painter who is worth a straw ever will copy. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 156 Some of the bronze axes appear to be mere copies of the earlier stone ones.

4. fig. a. Something made or formed, or regarded as made or formed, in imitation of something else; a reproduction, image, or imitation.

1596 Bp. Barlow Three Serm. Ded. 83 The practise of these Bishops, and perhaps their copies. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 298 My brother hath a daughter, Almost the copie of my childe that's dead. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. v. 334, I see but as it were a Copy or Transcript of the first created nature of Man in the first Individuals. 1739 Hume Hum. Nat. i. ii. (1874) I. 317 Of this impression there is a copy taken by the mind. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 614 A rough copy of the Christian face Without the smile, the sweetness, or the grace. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xx. 509 Pompey, the Clown, is a copy from the life. 1890 Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. LXIII. 764/1 When one finds one drama to a great extent a copy of another.

† b. A specimen, instance, example. Obs.

1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 91 A little Child..a faire copy of meekenesse and innocency. a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. 209 Was this a copy of his particular zeal?

c. A page or specimen of penmanship written after a model: cf. 8 b.

Mod. You must write a copy every morning to improve your penmanship. The writing of copies as school-impositions.

5. a. Eng. Law. The transcript of the manorial court-roll, containing entries of the admissions of tenants, according to the custom of the manor, to land held by such tenants in the tenure hence called copyhold.

1463 Bury Wills (1850) 34, I wil and graunte to the seid Jenete Whitwelle my yeeris that I haue be copy in the medwe at Babwelle. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 37 §2 Landes Tenementes..Leeses and Fermes as well holden by copye as otherwyse. 1550 Crowley Inform. & Petit. (1872) 166 At the vacation of his copie or indentur he must paye welmoste as muche as woulde purchayse so much grownde. 1580 Lupton Sivqila 142 Whiche, if he perceyve to stand free, then he maye buy it, or take it by coppy or lease. 1628 Coke On Litt. 60 a, These tenants are called tenants by Copie of Court Rolle, because they haue no other euidence concerning their tenements, but onely the Copies of Court Rolles. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 95. 1885 Sir F. North in Law Times Rep. LIII. 504/2 The several tenements may be comprised in one copy.

b. A holding by copy, copyhold.

a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1843) V. 27 (D.) What poor man's right, what widow's copy, or what orphan's legacy would have been safe? 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. i. §6 Waltham Abbey (for Benedictines..) had its copie altered by King Henry the Second, and bestowed on Augustinians.

fig. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 38 Thou know'st, that Banquo and his Fleans liues. Lady. But in them Natures Coppie's not eterne.

    III. Without reference to an original.
    6. a. One of the various (written or printed) specimens of the same writing or work; an individual example of a manuscript or print. (The ordinary word in this sense.)
    Originally, the idea of ‘transcript’ or ‘reproduction’ was of course present; but in later use an original edition itself consists of so many ‘copies’. In fair copy, clean copy of a writing, the idea of ‘transcript’ is distinctly present; but it disappears when the original draft is called the rough copy or foul copy. The word is much used in bibliography, as in ‘early copy, tall copy, uncut copy, large paper copy, Mr. Grenville's copy, the British Museum copy,’ etc.

[1477 Caxton Dictes 147, I am not in certayn wheder it was in my lordis copye or not.] 1538 Coverdale N.T. Ded., In many places one copy hath either more or less than another. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 114 So are the woordes set down in three auncient copies. 1625 Abp. Ussher in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 132 Touching the Samaritan Pentateuch, the copye which I have is about three hundred yeares old. 1689 Gazophyl. Angl. Pref. A vj a, Being printed from a foul Copy. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 242, 3 Copies of the fourth, and 4 of the V{supt}{suph} Vol. of Leland. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 292 All our present copies..agree with one another. 1817 tr. Bombet's Life Haydn & Mozart 180 His rough copies [of MS. music] are full of different passages. 1850 Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 224 The acting copy is much altered from the old play. 1872 J. A. H. Murray Compl. Scot. Pref. 16 Of the book in these circumstances given to the world only four copies are known to have come down to recent times..Leyden writing in 1801, says, ‘all four copies were imperfect.’ Mod. Of how many copies does the edition consist?

† b. Formerly sometimes with the force of ‘text’, ‘version’, or ‘edition’.

[1538: cf. sense a.] 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary (1625) A iij b, The copies before this have beene..erroniously many waies delivered. 1830 Bp. Monk Life Bentley (1833) II. 226 They read him with..more satisfaction in Dr. Bentley's text than in any other copy.

7. a copy of verses: a set of verses, a short composition in verse: now chiefly applied to such a composition (esp. Greek or Latin verses) as a school or college exercise.

1653 Walton Angler 184, I will speak you a Coppie of Verses that were made by Doctor Donne. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 58 ¶13 To present his Mistress with a Copy of Verses made in the Shape of her Fan. 1782 F. Burney Lett. 19 Mar., They have put me again into the newspapers, in a copy of verses made upon literary ladies. 1841 Macaulay Ess., Comic Dram. (1854) I. 574/1 Wycherley..was present at a battle, and celebrated it, on his return, in a copy of verses too bad for the bellman. 1882 Jebb Bentley i. 4 The only relic of Bentley's undergraduate life is a copy of English verses on the Gunpowder Plot. That stirring theme was long a stock subject for College exercises.

IV. That which is copied.
8. a. The original writing, work of art, etc. from which a copy is made.

14.. Tundale's Vis. Colophon, Be it trwe or be it fals Hyt is as the coopy was. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xxiv. 193 In whiche translacion..I haue to my power folowed my copye. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 51 Conferring the translation with the Coppie. 1668 Excellency of Pen & Pencil A ij b, The Art of Drawing..by Instructions and Copies so easy and intelligible, that, etc. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. i. xxi. (1865) 164 The devil..working after my copy.

b. spec. A specimen of penmanship to be copied by a pupil.

1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 339 Give us a copie now if it please you [una mostra da scrivere]. Ibid. 363 Let me give you an other copie, which, God willing, you shall write tomorrow. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 95 We tooke him setting of boyes Copies. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xi. 178 There is more required to teach one to write then to see a coppy. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. viii. 182 Why the Scholar writeth not like his Copy? 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 488 The first copy I wrote after, with its moral lesson ‘Art improves Nature’. 1891 Illustr. Mag. IX. 285 Edith looked at the copybook. The copies had been set by herself.

† c. fig. Pattern, example. Obs.

1595 Shakes. John iv. ii. 113 The Copie of your speede is learn'd by them. 1601 ― All's Well i. ii. 46 Such a man Might be a copie to these yonger times. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 164 Doctor Taylor set archbishop Cranmer..a copy of patience. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 53 In preparing..of the Flax..This is the way they do it in Germany, and thou mayest write by their Copy. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 252 Every officer and private man..imitated the intrepid copy of their martial leader.

9. a. Printing. Manuscript (or printed) matter prepared for printing. (Now always without a and pl.)
Formerly used in a sense nearer to 8: a MS. or other exemplar which is printed from, or serves as ‘copy’, though not specially prepared for that purpose.

1485 Caxton Malory Pref. 3 And I accordyng to my copye haue doon sette it in enprynte. 1563 T. Gale Certain Wks. Chirurg. To Rdr., Dr. Cunningham who was no small helpe to me in..perusing the copies written [i.e. for the printer]. 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. B, When he carried his coppie to the Presse. 1596 ― Saffron Walden 59 More Copie, More Copie; we leese a great deale of time for want of Text. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 181, I usually afforded the setter copy at the rate of above a whole printed sheet in the day. 1676 Ray Corr. (1848) 123, I have been lately solicited to reprint my Catalogue..and have sent the copy up to London as it is. 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1732, Johnson engaged to supply the press with copy as it should be wanted. 1827 Scott Two Drovers Introd., He is neither more nor less than an imp of the devil, come to torment me for copy. 1877 H. A. Page De Quincey II. xvii. 40 The doom that visited bits of his own copy and proof-sheets.

† b. Property in ‘copy’; = copyright. Obs.
In its beginnings, only contextually differing from 9: the registration and licensing of the ‘copy’ or ‘copies’ proposed to be printed, conferred the ‘right’.

1577 Stationers' Reg. II. lf. 140, j^mo Julij Lycensed vnto H. Bynneman theise ij. copies. 1580 Ibid. (Arb. II. 380) 29 Oct., John Harrison. Assigned ouer from Hugh Singleton to haue the sheppardes callender which was Hughe Singletons copie. 1589 Ibid. (II. lf. 251 b) 1 Dec., Master Ponsonby. Entered for his Copye, a booke intytuled the fayrye Queene. 1655 tr. Francion v. 3 [Other authors] lived on what was given them for their copies. 1710 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) VI. 549 Securing the property of copies in books to the right owners. 1765 Sterne Lett. lv, Which will bring me in three hundred pounds, exclusive of the sale of the copy. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Addison Wks. III. 63 Steele..sold the copy for fifty guineas.

c. That which lends itself to interesting narration in a book, newspaper, etc.; material for a story.

1886 Wilde Reviews (1908) 99 Miss Broughton has been attending the meetings of the Psychical Society in search of copy. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Fabian Ess. Socialism 183 Those Socialist speeches which make what the newspapers call ‘good copy’. 1915 A. D. Gillespie Let. from Flanders 24 May (1916) 165 It's a damnable thing to treat this war as so much material for ‘good copy’. 1916 Beerbohm in Cornhill Mag. June 735 ‘Tell me your adventures.’ ‘They'd make first-rate {oqq}copy{cqq}, wouldn't they?’ 1930 W. S. Churchill Early Life xxvii. 359, I scampered about the moving cavalry screens searching in the carelessness of youth for every scrap of adventure, experience or copy. 1934 E. Bowen in G. Greene Old School 52 One or two of the girls fell in love in the holidays, but something in the atmosphere made it impossible to talk of this naturally without seeming at once to make copy of it. 1965 Listener 10 June 865/3 The gaffe of their guest in making copy out of it all, of the BBC in broadcasting it unedited.

d. spec. The text of an advertisement.

1905 Calkins & Holden Art Mod. Advertising viii. 175 The design and ‘copy’ used in the four-inch advertisement may involve just as much time. 1926 G. Russell Nuntius: Advertising iii. 53 The public cannot fairly be expected to believe the verbiage into which much extremely competent advertisement copy is converted by the futile interference of manufacturers. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise iii. 39 Ingleby specialised in snobbish copy about Twentyman's Teas (‘preferred by Fashion's Favourites’). 1967 Word Study Oct. 3/2 Writers..should take care with advertising copy for radio and TV.

V. 10. Name of a particular size of paper.

1712 Act 10 Q. Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5018/3 Paper called..bastard or double Copy. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 497 The smallest size of the fine quality..measures 12½ by 15 inches, and is termed pot; next to that foolscap..; then post..; copy, 20 by 16½. Of coarse papers may be mentioned..copy loaf, 16³/₄ by 21³/₄, 38-lb.

VI. Phrases.
† 11. a. to change (turn, alter) one's copy: to change one's style, tone, behaviour, or course of action; to assume another character. Obs.

1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxlix. 369 Thus the knyghtes and squyers turned theyr copies on both partes. Ibid. II. cxiii. [cix.] 327 Chaunge your copye, so that we haue no cause to renewe our yuell wylles agaynste you. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. ii. 4 He will sodeinly turn his copye. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 581 Callisthenes changing copy, spake boldly many things against the Macedonians. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 178 Fortune changing her copie, the affaires of the winner decline. 1605–1640 [see change v. 9]. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 106 Hee that writeth Dunce on the..Eve of his Doctorship, doth not alter his copy, and go out Scholler next day. 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 391 Such as lived orderly..had now turn'd their copy..and were fallen.

† b. copy of a conference: memorandum or minutes of a conference; also app. the agenda or subject matter; the theme. Obs.

1588 Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 10 One had conference with a bishop about Subscription, and..gave his friende a copie of his conference. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 62 It was the copie of our Conference. In bed he slept not for my vrging it, At boord he fed not for my vrging it.

† c. copy of one's countenance: a mere outward show or sign of what one would do or be; hence, pretence. Obs.

1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 64 They haue..threatned highly too put water in my woortes, whensoeuer they catche me; I hope it is but a coppy of their countenance, Ad diem fortasse minitantur. 1600 Holland Livy vii. xxx. 270 If ye [Romans] but shew a copie of your countenance, as if ye would aid and succour us. Ibid. xxvi. viii. 588 Carried away with every copie of Anniball his countenance [ad nutus Hannibalis], and with vaine threats and menaces. a 1663 Abp. Bramhall Wks. (1842–4) II. 367 (D.) Whatsoever he prateth..it is but a copy of his countenance. 1743 Fielding J. Wild iii. xiv. (D.), This, as he afterwards confessed on his death-bed..was only a copy of his countenance. 1779 Wesley Wks. (1872) XI. 493 Many who affirmed this, did not believe themselves..it was merely a copy of their countenance.

B. adj.
† 1. Abundant. (Cf. dial. ‘plenty money’, etc.)

1546 Richmond. Wills (Surtees) 60 Ther shalbe..fyue masses sade..yf so be that ther be copye companye of prestes suffycyent to celebrate the same.

† 2. = copyhold 3. Obs.

1502 Bury Wills (1850) 94 All my londs..w{supt} all ther apportenents, ffree and copy. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 13 b, Bothe charter lande and copye lande. 1538 Bury Wills 136 The copye close. 1598 T. Bastard Chrestol. (1880) 88 Copie land, and after a freeholde. 1639 Bury Wills (1850) 174 All those my lands, both copy and free.

C. Comb., as copy-boy, one who takes copy from the writer to the printer; a publisher's errand boy; † copy-clerk, a copying clerk, a scribe; copy desk U.S., the desk where copy is edited for printing; copy editor, one who edits copy for printing; hence copy-edit, v.; also in extended use; copy-editing vbl. n.; copy-fit v. trans., to fit (copy) to the space available; so copy-fitting vbl. n. (see quot. 1961); copy-head, copy-line, the line of writing placed at the head of the page of a copy-book to be imitated by the pupil; copy-holder, (a) a clasp for holding printer's copy while being set up; (b) a proof-reader's assistant who reads the copy aloud to the proof-reader; copy-hunting vbl. n. and ppl. a., hunting for ‘copy’ (sense 9 c); copy-land, see B. 2; copy-paper, paper on which copy is written for the press; copy-purchaser, one who purchases a MS. for press; copy-reader, one who reads copy for a newspaper or a book; also in extended use; so copy-read v.;copy-reading vbl. n.; copy-slip, a slip of paper on which a writing-copy is written (cf. copy-head); copy-taster, one who selects copy for printing; copy-text (see quot. 1904); copy-typist, one who makes typewritten copies of documents, etc.; hence copy-type v.; copy-typing vbl. n.; copy-writer, a writer of copy for the press; spec. a writer of advertising copy (see sense 9 d); so copy-writing vbl. n. See also copy-book, -hold, -money.

1888 Kipling Phantom 'Rickshaw 76 The little black *copy-boys are whining.., and most of the paper is as blank as Modred's shield. 1942 W. Stevens Let. 23 Oct. (1967) 424 She thought that she could get a job as a copy boy on one of the local papers. 1961 ‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire i. 10 Ronnie, a young, eager copy-boy, bustled in with a handful of news slips.

1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N.T. Pref. 5 The Latine *Copy-clarke..hath enfarced these words.

1929 M. Lief Hangover 235 It got past the *copy desk for the first edition and then some wise guy caught it and killed it in the others. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost ii. 7 At the offices of The New Leader..the Socialists have..cups of coffee..piled on a tray on the copy desk.

1953 M. Cowley in F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is Night Introd. p. xvi, The manuscript was never *copy-edited by others. 1958 E. J. West Shaw on Theatre p. v, Many of the pieces..were copy-edited to conform to the house usages of the publications..that first printed them. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 125 To copy edit a tape, the selected material is recorded to a make-up tape.

Ibid. 246 *Copy editing, the copying of selected extracts from recorded material into sequence on a main programme assembly tape. Subsequent fine editing will generally be necessary.

1899 J. L. Williams Stolen Story 24 The *copy-editors began gathering in now. 1931 N. & Q. 29 Aug. 146/1 The copy editor, in preparing the despatch for the printer, began with the last clause of the note. 1969 J. Bennett Dragon viii. 104 This stringer..sniffed out the story and filed it to New York, where a copy editor promptly spiked it.

1948 Library III. 155, Edition II was *copy-fitted against edition I.

Ibid., I propose to demonstrate, through evidence of *copy-fitting in II,..the correctness of the traditional order of I and II. Ibid. 158 The right-hand margins of II are almost perfectly regular, and were demonstrably copy-fitted to make them so. 1961 T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2) 101/2 Copy fitting, adjusting copy to the space prepared, either by verbal changes or by suitable changes in type size.

1862 Athenæum 30 Aug. 279 ‘There is nothing’ (as the *copy-head says) ‘which is denied to well-directed labour’. 1877 Daily News 5 Oct. 5/2 The great adage is current in copyheads.

1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 701/2 This proof is read through and compared with the copy by the proof reader or corrector of the press and an assistant, the *copy⁓holder or reading boy. 1951 S. Jennett Making of Books vi. 87 A copyholder is then called, to read aloud from the author's manuscript or typescript while the reader follows the wording of the proof, checking it with what the copyholder is reading.

1900 Kynoch Jrnl. Feb.–Mar. 75/1 This point is invariably missed by non-shooting writers when *copy-hunting. 1913 ‘S. Rohmer’ Myst. Fu-Manchu xviii. 189 Places unknown even to the ubiquitous copy-hunting pressman.

1843 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 209 As the *copy-line says, ‘procrastination is the root of all evil’.

1902 E. Banks Newsp. Girl 259 The great pads of *copy paper supplied by the telegraph office for newspaper correspondents. 1907 Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 4/4 There is brown paper and notepaper and copy-paper and..newspaper. 1969 R. Busby Robbery Blue iv. 34 Sheaves of pink and blue copy-paper..torn from the copy-takers' typewriters.

1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) IV. xcii. 108 His importance among the *copy-purchasers in town.

1945 Eng. Lang. in Amer. Educ. (Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer.) iii. 24 The student who plans to be a secretary should be sure to develop the ability to spell and punctuate correctly and to *copyread what he has written.

1892 Harper's Weekly 9 Jan. 42/4 Upon the taste, the good judgment, and discretion of these *copy-readers the character of the paper very greatly depends. 1903 E. L. Shuman Pract. Journalism 18 Each of these departments has a force of copy-readers, whose duty it is to edit the matter written by the reporters.

Ibid. 25 In the first ten years the young journalist masters reporting, *copy-reading, and the rest of the routine work.

1865 Pall Mall G. 22 May 1 To go to the country with the cry of Church and Queen...this kind of *copyslip policy. 1838 C. Gilman Recollections xxviii. 194 One set of copy⁓slips was to be substituted for another.

1942 Sphere 27 June 409/1 All tape and agency news comes to the chief *copy-taster in the main room. 1962 A. Lejeune Duel in Shadows i. 11 The Managing Editor and his myrmidons huddled round the backbench examining a damp page-proof, the copy-taster's spike piled high with rejected stories.

1904 R. B. McKerrow Wks. Nashe p. xi, The spelling of the *copy-text, by which..I mean the text used in each particular case as the basis of mine, has been followed exactly. 1964 F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Text. Crit. i. 2 The choice of copy-text was not a particularly acute question. Ibid. vi. iv. 201 Evidence in Othello at first sight contrary to the Q copy-text hypothesis.

1956 ‘C. Blackstock’ Dewey Death i. 5 They *copy-typed in French, German, Italian and Russian, without understanding one word.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Oct. 577/2 The time taken up on purely secretarial work, *copy⁓typing, [etc.].

1939 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 18/5 (Advt.), A young lady, aged 19 required. Must be an efficient *copy typist. 1960 Economist 8 Oct. 171/1 The copy typist in a typing pool.

1911 T. Russell Advertising & Publicity ix. 96 An advertiser can..employ what are known as *copy⁓writers—professional writers of advertisements. 1935 Archit. Rev. LXXVII. 129/2 They have paid copy-writers and poster-designers to ‘put them across’ in nation-wide publicity drives. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Aug. p. xxiii/1 They are to the gentleman publisher what ideas men, public relations experts, copy-writers, and designers are to the common industrialist.

1923 H. Crane Let. 18 Feb. (1965) 126 Truly, you must look for some editorial post, *copywriting job, or something that will relieve you of such strains. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Dec. 748/5 Perhaps not surprisingly, copywriting (or ‘wordsmithing’, as one executive dubbed it) is the least important department of the business.

▪ II. copy, v.¹
    (ˈkɒpɪ)
    Forms: see the n.
    [a. F. copier, ad. med.L. copiāre to transcribe, f. cōpia: see copy n.]
    1. trans. To make a copy of (a writing); to transcribe (from an original).

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 69 Gerebertus hadde i-write and i-copied al this philosofres bookes. c 1425 Hampole's Psalter Metr. Pref. 49 Copyed has this Sauter ben of yuel men of lollardry. c 1490 Promp. Parv. 92 (MS. K) Copyyn, copio. 1683 Salmon Doron Med. ii. 523 A Physician coppied it from the original letter. 1776 Trial Nundocomar 45/1 Maha Rajah had bid me copy the papers. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 126, I copy it from the writings of M. de Villers. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 4 Philippus..copied them [the Laws] out of the waxen tablets.

b. with out († forth, † over).

1563 Nowell in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 20, I have caused it to be coopied out ageine. 1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 1 Let this be coppied out, And keepe it safe for our remembrance. 1611 Bible Prov. xxv. 1 Prouerbes of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah..copied out. 1663 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 332 Tyme for coppying forth of the same. 1751 Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless II. 141 She..got one..to copy it [this letter] over. 1881 J. Russell Haigs i. 21 [He] has copied it out in full.

c. To send a copy of (a letter, etc.) to a third party; to provide (someone) with copies of correspondence, etc., on a particular subject for information. (Common in office use.)

1983 J. Fuller Convergence xxiii. 247 LaSalle pushed a file jacket across the table, and Harper flipped through the pages... ‘You'll copy me on all this?’ said Harper. 1986 Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 2/4 This letter is addressed to you and is not being copied to any other party. 1987 Which? May 213/3 Write to British Rail{ddd}You can copy your letter to the Central Transport Consultative Committee.

2. To make a copy of (a picture, or other work of art); also to reproduce or represent (an object) in a picture or other work of art.

1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 190, I like the worke well..I would haue it coppied. 1655 E. Terry Voy. E. India 135 They are excellent at Limning, and will coppie out any picture they see to the life. 1719 J. Richardson Art Crit. 153 He that works by Invention or the Life, endeavouring to Coppy Nature..makes an Original. Ibid. 174 If a Larger Picture be Coppied. 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 580 Columns of the Corinthian order..copied from the Choragic monument of Lysicrates. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Plato Wks. (Bohn) I. 302 The potters copied his [Socrates'] ugly face on their stone jugs.

b. Computing. To read (data stored in one location), or the data in (a disc, etc.), and reproduce it in another. (Const. from the first location to (or into, etc.) the second.)

1953 Proc. IRE XLI. 1272/1 After Write..a sequence of Copy instructions is given. Each Copy specifies an address..from which the next word is to be copied for the purpose of writing. 1968 N. Chapin 360 Programming iv. 64 The computer can copy data from a zoned field, but change the code to packed-decimal for the receiving field. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing iv. 72 Computers often reproduce information by copying data e.g. from a memory cell to a register or vice versa. 1975 Polivka & Pakin APL viii. 362 Copying does interfere with the contents of the active workspace..if a name being copied in is the same as a name already in the workspace. 1978 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery XXI. 351/1 An algorithm is presented for copying an arbitrarily linked list structure into a block of contiguous storage locations without destroying the original list. 1984 dBASE II User Man. iii. 55 If the SDF clause is specified, then the file in USE is copied to another file without the structure. 1985 P. Laurie Databases i. 38 A ‘tape streamer’..will copy the whole hard disk straight onto tape in a few minutes.

3. fig. To make or form an imitation of (anything); to imitate, reproduce, follow.

1647 Crashaw Poems 139 Could she [nature] in all her births but copy thee. a 1667 Cowley Ess. Greatness Wks. 125 An Ode of Horace, not exactly copy'd, but rudely imitated. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 164 §4 When the original is well chosen and judiciously copied, the imitator often arrives at excellence. 1785 Cowper Tiroc. 649 A wish to copy what he must admire. a 1828 D. Stewart Wks. (1854) I. 35 We copy instinctively the voices of our companions.

† b. with out (fig. from 1 b, 2). Obs.

1649 Lovelace Poems (1864) 103 Mightiest monarchs..May coppy out their proudest, richest looke. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. i. (1821) 409 God hath copied out himself in all created being. 1691 Dryden K. Arthur (J.) To copy out their great forefathers' fame.

4. absol. or intr.

1680 Hickeringill Meroz 33 He will neither coppy after Christ, nor St. Paul. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 105 Those that copy after his Adversaries in their infamous way of writing. a 1700 Dryden (J.), When a painter copies from the life. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 192 An end put to Authors copying from one another. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 395 They must have had an original to copy after. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 125 No painter who is worth a straw ever will copy.

▸ copy-protected adj. Computing (of software or hardware) having some form of copy protection.

1982 N.Y. Times 9 May f17/3 The only programs we sold last year that were *copy protected were protected because we bought them from outside authors who insisted on it. 1990 Amiga User Internat. May 42/3 The KCS package comes as a single, copy protected, disk. 2006 PC Gamer Apr. 124/4 Apple's plan is for us to buy pre-formatted, copy-protected movie files from its..iTunes store.

▸ copy protection n. Computing protection against unauthorized copying incorporated in the recording, program, etc., to be protected.

1982Mag. Rev. in net.micro (Usenet newsgroup) 28 Jan. Much space in the publication is devoted to educating the user about DOS and *copy protection methods. 1993 Guardian 26 Aug. ii. 21/2 The only drawback is that Cubase uses a hardware copy protection device, a dongle. 2001 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 18 Oct. d7/3, I am a strong believer in copy protection and have never distributed or used pirated software. 2002 Sound & Vision May 76/1 If your player can handle DVD-Audio discs, it will definitely have six analog outputs..since DVD-A's copy protection won't let you send the signals digitally.

▪ III. † copy, v.² Obs.
[? related to coppy, coppice; cf. also copse v.¹]

1530 Palsgr. 498/2, I copy or close in, Jenclos, or je copie.