The act of cutting back trees in a copse to encourage regrowth, or managing woodland through periodic harvesting.
Present participle of 'cops' (to cut), referring to the traditional forestry practice of repeatedly cutting back trees to stimulate new growth from the base.
Traditional copsing follows roughly 15-year cycles, and the youngest growth is the most valuable for firewood and building—this means medieval foresters were essentially farming trees like annual crops.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.