copperhead Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun common coppery brown pit viper of upland eastern United States
    Agkistrodon contortrix.
  2. noun venomous but sluggish reddish-brown snake of Australia
    Denisonia superba.

WordNet

Cop"per*head` noun
Etymology
From its color.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A poisonous American serpent (Ancistrodon conotortrix), closely allied to the rattlesnake, but without rattles; -- called also copper-belly, and red viper.
  2. A nickname applied to a person in the Northern States who sympathized with the South during the Civil War. U.S.

Webster 1913