subs. (common).—The fever and parched throat, or MOUTH (q.v.), attending a debauch. See COOL ONE’S COPPER.
1830. P. EGAN, Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared his COPPER to be so HOT that he thought all the water in the sea could not reduce his thirst!
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp. ‘You mean to say you’ve got a HOT COPPER—so have I. Send for the precious balm and then fire away.’
1849. THACKERAY, Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he remarked ‘when the COPPERS are HOT.’
1864. The Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is an excellent remedy for HOT COPPERS.
1892. HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came … as happy-looking, and lively as if no such thing as HOT COPPERS existed.
