coppice
English
WOTD – 31 July 2012

A recently coppiced alder.
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French copeiz (“a cut-over forest”), from presumed Vulgar Latin *colpaticium (“having the quality of being cut”), from *colpāre (“to cut, strike”), from *colpus (“a blow”), from Latin colaphus (“a cuff, box on the ear”), from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos, “a blow, slap”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɒpɪs/
Noun
coppice (plural coppices)
- A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain times for fuel or other purposes, typically managed to promote growth and ensure a reliable supply of timber. See copse.
- 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict:
- […] belts of thin white mist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby could see the pale shine of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow and coppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered in orchards, […]
- 1957, Schubert, H.R. History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, p216:
- It was also enacted that all coppices or underwoods should be enclosed for periods from four to seven years after felling.
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Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
grove of small growth
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Verb
coppice (third-person singular simple present coppices, present participle coppicing, simple past and past participle coppiced)
- (transitive) To manage (a wooded area) sustainably, as a coppice, by periodically cutting back woody plants to promote new growth.
- Her plan to coppice the woods should keep her self-sufficient in fuel indefinitely.
- (intransitive) To sprout from the stump.
- Few conifer species can coppice.
Derived terms
Translations
manage a wooded area as a coppice
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sprout from the stump
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References
- “coppice” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019. [see also its linking entry coup]
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