- a poisonous North American pit viper (Agkistrodon contortrix) with a copper-colored head and dark-brown cross bands
- [C-]Informal a Northerner who sympathized with the South at the time of the Civil War: so called in the North
copperhead
cop·per·headWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"copperhead." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead>.
APA Style
copperhead. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead
copperhead
noun
- A venomous snake (Agkistrodon contortrix) of the eastern and central United States and northern Mexico, having a tan body with reddish-brown crossbands.
- Copperhead A Northerner who sympathized with the South during the Civil War.
copperhead
Agkistrodon contortix
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"copperhead." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead>.
APA Style
copperhead. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead
Noun
(plural copperheads)
- Any of various types of snakes having a copper-colored head.
- Agkistrodon contortrix, a venomous pit viper species found in parts of North America.
- Austrelaps, or Australian copperhead, a genus of venomous elapids found in southern Australia and Tasmania.
- Elaphe radiata, the copperhead rat snake, a non-venomous species found in southern Asia.
- Deinagkistrodon acutus, the Chinese copperhead, a venomous pit viper species found in Southeast Asia
- (pejorative) Someone with ginger hair.
Noun
(plural Copperheads)
- (US, obsolete, slang) A northerner who sympathized with the South or wanted to end hostilities during the American Civil War.
- (US, obsolete, pejorative) Any member of the Democratic party. [chiefly 1860s]
Origin
After the dangerous copperhead snake, to which propagandists of the Republican Party compared Democrats interested in appeasement.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"copperhead." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead>.
APA Style
copperhead. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead
copperhead - Medical Definition
n.
A venomous snake (Agkistrodon contortrix) of the eastern and central United States and northern Mexico, having a tan body with reddish-brown crossbands.
The American Heritage Dictionary of Medicine © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"copperhead." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead>.
APA Style
copperhead. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/copperhead
