Forms: see the sb. [a. F. copier, ad. med.L. copiāre to transcribe, f. cōpia: see COPY sb.]
1. trans. To make a copy of (a writing); to transcribe (from an original).
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 69. Gerebertus hadde i-write and i-copied al this philosofres bookes.
c. 1425. Hampole’s Psalter, Metr. Pref. 49. Copyed has this Sauter ben of yuel men of lollardry.
c. 1490. Promp. Parv., 92 (MS. K). Copyyn, copio.
1683. Salmon, Doron Med., II. 523. A Physician coppied it from the original letter.
1776. Trial of Nundocomar, 45/1. Maha Rajah had bid me copy the papers.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), II. 126. I copy it from the writings of M. de Villers.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 4. Philippus … copied them [the Laws] out of the waxen tablets.
b. with out († forth, † over).
1563. Nowell, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 20. I have caused it to be coopied out ageine.
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 1. Let this be coppied out, And keepe it safe for our remembrance.
1611. Bible, Prov. xxv. 1. Prouerbes of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
1663. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 332. Tyme for coppying forth of the same.
1751. Eliza Heywood, Betsy Thoughtless, II. 141. She … got one … to copy it [this letter] over.
1881. J. Russell, Haigs, i. 21. [He] has copied it out in full.
2. To make a copy of (a picture, or other work of art); also to reproduce or represent (an object) in a picture or other work of art.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iv. 190. I like the worke well … I would haue it coppied.
1655. E. Terry, Voy. E. India, 135. They are excellent at Limning, and will coppie out any picture they see to the life.
1719. J. Richardson, Art Crit., 153. He that works by Invention or the Life, endeavouring to Coppy Nature … makes an Original. Ibid., 174. If a Larger Picture be Coppied.
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 580. Columns of the Corinthian order … copied from the Choragic monument of Lysicrates.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Plato, Wks. (Bohn), I. 302. The potters copied his [Socrates’] ugly face on their stone jugs.
3. fig. To make or form an imitation of (anything); to imitate, reproduce, follow.
1647. Crashaw, Poems, 139. Could she [nature] in all her births but copy thee.
a. 1667. Cowley, Ess. Greatness, Wks. 125. An Ode of Horace, not exactly copy’d, but rudely imitated.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 164, ¶ 4. When the original is well chosen and judiciously copied, the imitator often arrives at excellence.
1785. Cowper, Tiroc., 649. A wish to copy what he must admire.
a. 1828. D. Stewart, Wks. (1854), I. 35. We copy instinctively the voices of our companions.
† b. with out (fig. from 1 b, 2). Obs.
1649. Lovelace, Poems (1864), 103.
| That mightiest monarchs by this shaded booke | |
| May coppy out their proudest, richest looke. |
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., IX. i. (1821), 409. God hath copied out himself in all created being.
1691. Dryden, K. Arthur, V. i. Wks. 1884, VIII. 199 (J.). To copy out their great forefathers’ fame.
4. absol. or intr.
1680. Hickeringill, Meroz, 33. He will neither coppy after Christ, nor St. Paul.
1699. Bentley, Phal., Pref. 105. Those that copy after his Adversaries in their infamous way of writing.
a. 1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Epist., Pref. (J.). When a Painter Copies from the life, I suppose he has no priviledge to alter Features, and Lineaments, under pretence that his Picture will look better.
1730. A. Gordon, Maffei’s Amphith., 192. An end put to Authors copying from one another.
1772. Priestley, Inst. Relig. (1782), II. 394–5. They must have had an original to copy after.
1857. Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, ii. 125. Never buy a copy of a picture, under any circumstances whatever. All copies are bad; because no painter who is worth a straw ever will copy.
