1775 P. V. Fithian Jrnl. 10 July in Jrnl. 1775–6 (1934) 54 The Snake that wounded her they call a ‘Copper-Head’.

1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer x. 236 The most dangerous one is the pilot, or copperhead... It bears the first name because it always precedes the rattle-snake; that is, quits its state of torpidity in the spring a week before the other.

1788 M. Cutler Jrnl. 28 Aug. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 415 Edmund Moulton bit by a copperhead this morning.

1817 S. R. Brown Western Gazetteer 31 The only venomous serpents, are the common and prairie rattlesnakes, and copper-heads.

1823 J. D. Hunter Mem. Captivity 171 The common black, copper-head, and spotted swamp snakes.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 409 The black snake and the copper~head have gone to the old rock heaps.

1842 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. iii. 54 The Copper-head..has various popular names in different districts..Copper-Belly, Red Viper, Deaf Adder and Chunkhead.

1880 M. Allan-Olney New Virginians I. 87 The copperhead is said to be more venomous than the common moccasin.

1880 Libr. Universal Knowl. IV. 314 Copperhead..called ‘deaf adder’, and ‘chunk-head’.

1931 R. L. Ditmars Snakes of World x. 101 The water snake and hog-nosed snake are sometimes mistaken for the Copperhead, owing to their proportionately thick bodies, and gross similarity of markings. The poisonous species, however, carries its points of marked differentiation in having elliptical pupils, prominent cavity or pit between the eye and nostril, and greater number of plates under the tail in a single row.

1949 Sci. Monthly Jan. 55/1 Thus, the belief goes, whenever one sees a copperhead, a rattlesnake may appear on its trail.

1963 R. Snedigar Our Small Native Animals (ed. 2) 192 Although..capable of inflicting a severe and potent bite, the copperhead..is shy and retiring.

1788 J. May Jrnl. 21 June (1873) (modernized text) 70 One of Colonel Stacey's men bit by a copperhead snake.

1822 Massachusetts Spy 31 July A woman in Salisbury township..discovered a copperhead snake on her dresser.

1866 J. C. Gregg Life in Army i. 18 There were also to be found great dens of the Copperhead Snake, and this species were considered the most poisonous, deceptive, dangerous and mean of all the snake family.

1931 R. L. Ditmars Snakes of World x. 97 Two species of moccasins must be considered—the Water Moccasin and the Copperhead Snake (highland moccasin, pilot snake, or chunk-head), which are members of the same family as the rattlers.

1878 F. McCoy Prodromus Zool. Victoria I. 9 I have adopted the popular name ‘copper-head’ for this snake from a well-known vendor of a supposed antidote for snake-bites.

1896 F. G. Aflalo Sketches Nat. Hist. Austral. 171 The colour of this snake is brown or copper-coloured, the belly yellow to grey. It is also known as the Copper Head.

1944 Living off Land: Man. Bushcraft vi. 120 (caption) The thick copperhead is slow-moving.

1963 E. Worrell Reptiles Austral. 110 Copperheads congregate in large colonies among thick tussocks bordering swamps.

1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. II. vi. iv. 105 These were the men who vegetated in the mud..being of the race of genuine copperheads.

1828 J. K. Paulding New Mirror for Travellers (1868) 108 Death has sometimes had his match with some of these tough old copperheads.

1831 A. Royall Southern Tour II. 63 I forgive him for his bold and manly stand against the copper-heads, as the Presbyterians are often called.

1863 N.Y. Tribune 12 Jan. 4/6 The more malignant Copperheads of this state.

1863 Spectator 15 Aug. 2375 The organ of the Pro-slavery Democrats or Copperheads.

1863 W. Phillips Speeches xxiv. 526 Copperhead Democratic sympathy with the aristocracy of the South.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lv. 358 The Democratic party..was long discredited by..the opposition of a considerable section within it (the so-called Copperheads) to the prosecution of the war.