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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Copy

Cōp'y, n.

noun

n. [Fr. copie, Pr., It., Sp., & Pg. copia, from Lat. copia, abundance, number, L. Lat., a pattern for writing, transcript.] 1. An abundance or plenty of any thing; copiousness. [Obs.] She was blessed with no more copy of wit, but to serve his humor thus. B. Jonson. 2. A writing like another writing; a transcript from an original; or a book printed according to the original. I have not the vanity to think my copy equal to the original. Denham.

  1. One of a series of imitations or repetitions of an original work; as, a copy of a deed, or of a book; a copy of a picture or statue, &c. “Many feeble copies of the great original.” Macaulay.
  2. An original work; that which is to be imitated, especially that which is to be printed; original; pattern; model.

Let him first learn to write, after a copy, all the letters. Holder. The copy is at the press. Dryden. Syn.—Imitation; transcript; duplicate; counterfeit.

Cōp'y, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. COPIED (kŏp'id); p. pr. & vb. n. COPYING.] [Fr. copier, Sp. copiar, It. & L. Lat. copiare. See supra.] To write, print, or engrave after an original; to imitate; to transcribe; to model after;—often with out, sometimes with off.

I like the work well; ere it be demanded (As like enough it will), I'd have it copied. Shak.

Let this be copied out, And keep it safe for our remembrance. Shak.

We copy instinctively the voices of our companions, their accents, and their modes of pronunciation. Dugald Stewart.

Cŏp'y, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To make an imitation; to do any thing in imitation of something else.

Some . . . never fail, when they copy, to follow the bad as well as the good things. Dryden.