Meanings
plural copperplates
- countableuncountableA print made from such a plate.
- countableuncountableA style of handwriting based on that used on such prints; English round hand.
1999. Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 36 (2001 Perennial paperback edition). The village school was a fine school […] He learned his reading and had a fair copperplate hand.
present singular third person copperplates · participle present copperplating · participle past copperplated · past copperplated
- To engrave on and print from a copperplate.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan engraving consisting of a smooth plate of copper that has been etched or engraved
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From copper + plate. For the plate used for engraving: in the 1660s. As a term for the printed product: from 1817. Of the especially clear writing used in such prints: from the 1820s. Use as a verb (the past participle copperplated) is from 1822.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
copperplate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copperplate
“copperplate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copperplate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “copperplate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copperplate.
Source: copperplate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.