▪ I. coping, n.
(ˈkəʊpɪŋ)
Also 8 copeing.
[f. cope v.1 sense 2 + -ing1.]
1. Arch. The uppermost course of masonry or brickwork in a wall, usually made of a sloping form to throw off rain.
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. B v, Warham..The Iron barres vpon the bridge bestow'd: Warner the copings did reedifie. 1611 Bible 1 Kings vii. 9 Euen from the foundation vnto the coping [1388 Wyclif cop of the wallis]. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Witches' Frolic, The Vicarage walls are lofty and thick, And the copings are stone and the sides are brick. 1876 Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. s.v., Coping thinner on one edge than on the other serves to throw off the water on one side of the wall, and is called feather-edged coping. Coping thicker in the middle than at the edges is called saddle-backed coping. |
| transf. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 89 The eyebrows form a sort of coping or fence. |
2. An overhanging ledge or shelf for protecting wall-fruit. Cf. cope v.1 4.
| 1881 Garden Feb. 105 A broad Coping of glass, if possible 2 ft. wide and portable. |
3. Comb., as coping-brick, a brick used for a coping; coping saw Joinery, a type of fretsaw with a swivel-blade, used for cutting curved patterns in wood. See also coping-stone.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Wall, Fence-Walls built of great Bricks are coped with *Coping Bricks. 1925 C. G. Wheeler Man. Woodworking 38 *Coping saw. This is good for cutting small curves in fitting mouldings, and for any small, fine scroll work. 1956 H. Townsend in D. L. Linton Sheffield 299 Piercing saws,..coping saws, and back saws are associated with the manufacture of hacksaws. 1981 Handtools of Arts & Crafts 145 (caption) Coping saw. |
▪ II. coping, vbl. n.1
(ˈkəʊpɪŋ)
[f. cope v.2 + -ing1.]
† 1. Meeting in the shock of combat; encounter.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 3602 So kenli þei a-cuntred at þe coupyng to-gadere, þat þe kniȝt spere in speldes alto-schiuered. 1494 Fabyan Chron. (1811) II. 539 Cocborne, was throwen at y⊇ seconde copynge to grounde horse & man. c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 54 The Brittons used Chariots in there fightes, which..at the first copinge did greatlie greeve and astonishe the armie of their enemies. 1611 Cotgr., Choc..a violent incounter, or coping of armed, and angrie souldiors. |
2. Contending in opposition or rivalry.
| 1678 Hist. Indulgence in G. Hickes Spirit of Popery 74 Never to be out-done..in a copeing with the Mediator, and a downright denial of Him to be King. |
▪ III. coping, vbl. n.2
(ˈkəʊpɪŋ)
[f. cope v.3 + -ing1.]
Bargaining. Now only in reference to horse-coping = horse-dealing: cf. coper1.
| 1595 Maroccus Ext. 11, I knowe a man that..solde but three yardes of satten unto a gentleman, and forswore himself at least three times in the coping. 1613 F. Robartes Revenue of Gospel 104 Alasse, alasse, segging is no good coping. 1864 Lond. Rev. 18 June, 643 Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners the horse-copers. These individuals practise fraud as a trade. 1876 World V. 18 Skilled in the thousand-and-one devices of coping. |
▪ IV. ˈcoping, vbl. n.3 Falconry.
[f. cope v.4 + -ing1.]
The cutting of a hawk's beak or talons. Hence coping-iron, an instrument for doing this.
| 1575 [see cope v.4]. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 238/2 Coping-Irons are Instruments used in coping or paring of Hawks Beaks, Pounces, and Talons. 1855–83 Salvin & Brodrick Falconry in Brit. Isles Gloss. 150. |
▪ V. ˈcoping, vbl. n.4 Shipbuilding.
‘Turning the ends of iron lodging-knees, so that they may hook into the beams’ (A. Young Naut. Dict. 1846), so as to ease the strain on the necks of the bolts when the vessel rolls.
| c 1850 in Rudim. Navig. (Weale) iii. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
▪ VI. † ˈcoping, ppl. a. Obs.
[f. cope v.1 5 + -ing1.]
Over-arching; of an arched or vaulted form; sloping laterally like the coping of a wall.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 506 The coping and vauted roofe of the furnace. 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 4 Another argument is the coping figure of the island. |