definition
A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain times for fuel or other purposes, typically managed to promote growth and ensure a reliable supply of timber. See copse.
Vast oak forests still covered the greater part of England and central Europe in the earlier historic period; and, though they have been gradually cleared in the progress of cultivation, oak is yet the prevailing tree in most of the woods of France, Germany and southern Russia, while in England the coppices and the few fragments of natural forest yet left are mainly composed of this species.
To secure these conditions free exposure to light and air is requisite; but in the case of coppices and woods, or where long straight spars are needed by the forester, plants are allowed to grow thickly so as to ensure development in an upward rather than in a lateral direction.
It is commonly found in hedges and coppices, and as an undergrowth in woods, and reaches a height of some 12 ft.; occasionally, as at Eastwell Park, Kent, it may attain to 30 ft.