copse means A coppice: an area of woodland managed by coppicing (periodic cutting near stump level). Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 75 out of 100.
copse is pronounced /kɒps/.
Why “copse” is a great word
COPSE — [Noun] A small, dense thicket of trees or shrubs, particularly one sustained by the cyclical practice of coppicing. The word is a clipped form of 'coppice', from the Old French *copeiz* ('a cut-over forest'), derived from *couper* ('to cut'), its quiet appearance in English records first noted in 1578. Unlike a "grove" (typically an open, untended cluster, often of fruit trees) or a "spinney" (planted primarily as game cover), a copse is a working wood, a living storehouse of straight poles maintained by the rhythmic, human application of the axe. It is a stand of slender hazel wands shining after rain, the geometric starburst of new shoots from an ancient stool, and the secret, dappled light beneath a canopy of ash—a testament to how carefully managed violence can perpetuate a quiet, renewable shade.
Etymology
1578, from coppice, by contraction, originally meaning “small wood grown for purposes of periodic cutting”.
noun
- A coppice: an area of woodland managed by coppicing (periodic cutting near stump level).
- Any thicket of small trees or shrubs, coppiced or not.“Agrimonie groweth in places not tylled, in rough stone mountaynes, in hedges and Copses, and by waysides.”
- Any woodland or woodlot.
verb
- To trim or cut.
- To plant and preserve.