hot coppers

noun

A hangover.

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Meanings

nounhot coppers pl (plural only)
  1. obsoletepluralplural onlyA hangover.

    […] gets drunk, he wakes up in the morning with a bad headache or with what, in the colonies, are called "hot coppers."

    1892, Harold Brodrick, The Son of Man, volume 2, page 40
    2 more examples

    The drunkard’s mouth a-wash for something drinkable, The drunkard’s eye alert for casual toppers, The drunkard’s neck stooped to a lot scarce thinkable, A living, crawling blazoning of Hot-Coppers […]

    1901, William Henley, Sandwich Man

    In those days the doctor was often half-seas over when he attended his drunken patient; the parson was often drunk in the pulpit; judge, counsel and attorneys pursued their avocation in court in a prevailing atmosphere of hot coppers.

    1913, Wine and Spirit News and Australian Vigneron, volume 24, page 206
Cite this entry
APA

hot coppers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20coppers

MLA

“hot coppers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20coppers. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hot coppers,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20coppers.

Source: hot coppers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.