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Coo·per (kpər), Gary Originally Frank James Cooper. 1901-1961.
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American actor who gained fame for his portrayals of strong, quiet heroes. He won an Academy Award for Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
coop·er (kpər)
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n.
A person who makes or repairs wooden barrels and tubs.

[Middle English couper, from Middle Dutch kūper, from kūpe, basket, tub; see COOP.]

cooper v.
cooper·age n.
(click for a larger image)
cooper
Heating dampened staves allows a cooper to bend the staves, giving them the curve needed to construct a barrel.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Cooper, James Fenimore 1789-1851.
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American novelist who is best remembered for his novels of frontier life, such as The Last of the Mohicans (1826).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Cooper, Leon Born 1930.
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American physicist. He shared a 1972 Nobel Prize for his work on superconductivity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Cooper, Peter 1791-1883.
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American manufacturer, inventor, and philanthropist who built the first American locomotive and founded Cooper Union (1859) in New York City, which offered free courses in the arts and sciences.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.