cop

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also COP, çöp, and cöp

Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English coppe, from Old English *coppe, as in ātorcoppe (“spider”, literally “venom head”), from Old English copp (“top, summit, head”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, round vessel, head”), from Proto-Indo-European *gū- (“to bend, curve”). Cognate with Middle Dutch koppe, kobbe (“spider”). More at cobweb.

Noun [edit]

cop (plural cops)

  1. (obsolete) A spider.

Etymology 2 [edit]

Possibly from Middle French capere (“to capture”), from Latin capere (“to seize, to grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to steal”), from West Frisian kāpia (“to take away”), from Old Frisian kapia, to buy.

Verb [edit]

cop (third-person singular simple present cops, present participle copping, simple past and past participle copped)

  1. (transitive, formerly dialect, now informal) to obtain, to purchase (as in drugs), to get hold of, to take
    • 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 10,
      Heroin appeared on the streets of our town for the first time, and Innie watched helplessly as his sixteen-year-old brother began taking the train to Harlem to cop smack.
  2. (transitive) to (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing.
    When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father
  3. (transitive) to steal
  4. (transitive) to adopt
    No need to cop an attitude with me, junior.
  5. (intransitive, usually with "to") (slang) to admit, especially to a crime.
    I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?
    Harold copped to being known as "Dirty Harry".
    • 2005, Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, page 295:
      He shot a guy in a bar on Martin Luther King Day and copped to first-degree manslaughter
Translations [edit]
to capture, to take (informal)
Derived terms [edit]

Etymology 3 [edit]

Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from cop (“one who cops”) above, i.e. a criminal.

Noun [edit]

cop (plural cops)

  1. (slang, law enforcement) A police officer or prison guard.
  2. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (slang, offensive, African American Vernacular, ethnic slur, by extension) Any white male, especially large and clean shaven.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
police officer

Etymology 4 [edit]

Old English cop, copp, from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch kop, German Kopf.

Noun [edit]

cop (plural cops)

  1. (crafts) The ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.
  2. (obsolete) The top, summit, especially of a hill.
  3. (obsolete) The head.
  4. A tube or quill upon which silk is wound.
  5. (architecture, military) A merlon.

Anagrams [edit]

References [edit]

See also [edit]

Catalan [edit]

Noun [edit]

cop m (plural cops)

  1. hit, blow, strike
  2. time, occasion

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Czech [edit]

Etymology [edit]

German Zopf

Noun [edit]

cop m

  1. braid

Derived terms [edit]

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

A shortened form of copain.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • [kɔp]

Noun [edit]

cop m (plural cops)

  1. (informal) A friend, a pal.

Old French [edit]

Noun [edit]

cop m (oblique plural cos, nominative singular cos, nominative plural cop)

  1. Alternative form of colp.

Slovak [edit]

Noun [edit]

cop m (nominative plural copy), declension pattern dub

  1. braid
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=cop&oldid=20573735"