copper nose
A vivid piece of slang for the reddened, often enlarged nose associated with heavy, chronic alcohol consumption — the kind that develops over years of drinking and becomes an involuntary advertisement for someone's habits.
Definitions
A vivid piece of slang for the reddened, often enlarged nose associated with heavy, chronic alcohol consumption — the kind that develops over years of drinking and becomes an involuntary advertisement for someone's habits. The 'copper' refers to the reddish-brown metallic color the nose takes on due to broken capillaries and rosacea exacerbated by alcohol. It's used in both clinical and informal descriptions, and carries a grim humor that doesn't quite disguise the underlying sadness.
The landlord had the copper nose of a man who'd been sampling his own stock for about thirty years too long.
Comments
(slang) A red nose resulting from alcoholism.
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(slang) Physical damage to the nose caused by snorting cocaine.
- coppertop58%
British and Australian slang for a person with red or ginger hair — a play on the copper-colored tones of auburn and ginger hair. 'Coppertop' is generally used affectionately or as light-hearted ribbing, though like many terms for ginger-haired people it can shade into teasing territory. It gained an additional layer of pop culture meaning from The Matrix character of the same informal description, but on the street it's straightforwardly about having that distinctive copper-hued hair.
- coppertop58%
(slang) A person with ginger hair.