Definition of "cooper"

cooper¹

/ˈkuːpə(ɹ)/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural coopers
1. A craftsman who makes and repairs barrels and similar wooden vessels such as casks, buckets and tubs.
  Quotations
  They were nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates, and third mates, and sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and ship keepers; a brown and brawny company, with bosky beards; an unshorn, shaggy set, all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 5, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
2. (obsolete) A drink of half stout and half porter.
verb
third-person singular simple present coopers, present participle coopering, simple past and past participle coopered
1. (now rare) To make and repair barrels etc.

/ˈkuːpə(ɹ)/

noun
plural coopers
1. Alternative form of coper (“floating grog shop”)
verb
third-person singular simple present coopers, present participle coopering, simple past and past participle coopered
1. Alternative form of coper (“operate as floating grog shop”)