police

See also policé

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French police, from Latin politia (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πόλις (polis, “city”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈliːs/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Wikipedia

Noun

police (uncountable)

1. An organisation granted the legal authority to enforce the law. See usage note.
   • Call the police!
   • The police operating in New York City operate under the New York City Police Department, several other City agencies and boards, and several public authorities.
2. (plural only; not used in singular form) Members of the police force.
   • Three police arrived in two cars.
3. (US, singular, nonstandard) (plural=police) A police officer
   • 2006, David Simon, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets^[1], ISBN 0805080759, page 440:

     This time it is the worst kind of call a murder police can get.

Usage notes

• Formerly a singular noun, police (#1) is now almost always used as a collective noun with a plural verb, as in "Run, the police are coming!"

Synonyms

• the cobblers, the fuzz, pigs, 5-0, popo, the heat, filth, cops/coppers, bobbies, peelers, woodentops (UK - referring to uniformed officers), 6-up, the law (Texas)

Derived terms

chief of police police box police captain police car police chief police commissioner police constable police department

police detective police dog police force police headquarters police jury police lieutenant policeman police officer police precinct

police record police sergeant police service police squad police state police station police van police wagon policewoman

Related terms

• policy
• political
• politician
• politicize
• politic
• politics
• polity

Translations

an organisation that enforces the law

Afrikaans: polisie (af) Albanian: policia (sq) f. Arabic: شرطة (ar) (shúrTa) f., بوليس (ar) (buliis) m. Armenian: ոստիկանություն (hy) (vostikanut'yun) Azeri: polis (az) Basque: polizia (eu) Belarusian: паліцыя (be) (palícyja) f., міліцыя (be) (milícyja) f. Bosnian: milicija (bs) f., policija (bs) f. Bulgarian: полиция (bg) (polícija) f. Catalan: policia (ca) f. Chechen: милцо Chinese: Mandarin: 警察 (cmn) (jǐngchá), 警方 (cmn) (jǐngfāng), (PRC equivalent institution) 公安 (cmn) (gōng'ān) Min Nan: 警察 (kíng-chhat) Croatian: policija (hr) f., milicija (hr) f. Czech: policie (cs) f. Danish: politi (da) Dutch: politie (nl) f. Esperanto: polico (eo) Estonian: politsei (et) Ewe: kpovitɔ Faroese: løgreglan Finnish: poliisi (fi) French: police (fr) f. Galician: vixía (gl) f. Georgian: პოლიცია (ka) (polic’ia) German: Polizei (de) f. Greek: αστυνομία (el) (astynomía) f. Haitian Creole: lapolis Hebrew: משטרה (he) (mishtara) f. Hindi: पोलिस (hi) (polis) m., पुलिस (hi) (pulis) m. Hungarian: rendőrség (hu) Icelandic: lögregla (is) f. Indonesian: polisi (id) Irish: garda (ga), gardaí (ga) pl. Italian: polizia (it) f. Japanese: 警察 (ja) (けいさつ, keisatsu) Korean: 경찰 (ko) (gyeongchal) (警察 (ko))

Kurdish: Kurmanji: polîs (ku) Sorani: پۆلیس (ku) Latin: vigil (la) f., vigiles (la) m. pl., denutiatores (la) m. pl., denuntiatores (la) Latvian: policija (lv) Lithuanian: policija (lt) Macedonian: полиција (mk) (polícija) f., милиција (mk) (milícija) f. Malay: polis (ms) Malayalam: പോലീസ് (ml) Maltese: pulizija (mt) f. Mongolian: цагдаа (mn) (tsagdaa) Navajo: siláo Norwegian: politi (no) m. Persian: پلیس (fa) (polis) Polish: policja (pl) f. Portuguese: polícia (pt) f. Quechua: chapaq Romanian: poliție (ro) f., miliție (ro) f. Russian: полиция (ru) (polícija) f., милиция (ru) (milícija) f. Scottish Gaelic: poileas (gd) m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: полиција (sh) f., милиција (sh) f. Roman: policija (sh) f., milicija (sh) f. Slovak: polícia (sk) f. Slovene: policija (sl) f. Spanish: policía (es) m. Swahili: polisi (sw) Swedish: polis (sv) c. Tagalog: pulisya Telugu: రక్షక దళము (te) (raxaka dalamu) Thai: ตำรวจ (th) (tamrwàd) Turkish: polis (tr) Ukrainian: поліцiя (uk) (polícija) f., міліція (uk) (milícija) f. Urdu: پولس (ur) (polis, pulis) m., پولیس (ur) (polīs, pulīs) m. Vietnamese: cảnh sát (vi) (警察 (vi)) Volapük: pold (vo) Welsh: heddlu (cy) m. West Frisian: polysje Yiddish: פּאָליציי (yi) (politsey) f.

member of the police force

Chinese: Mandarin: 警察 (zh) (jǐngchá), 警員 (zh), 警员 (zh) (jǐngyuán) French: policier (fr) m. Greek: αστυφύλακας (el) (astyfýlakas) m. and f. Latin: denuntiator (la) m., denuntiatrix (la) f. Navajo: siláo

Romanian: polițist (ro) m., polițistă (ro) f. Russian: полицейский (ru) (policéjskij) m., милиционер (ru) (milicionér) m. Sotho: lepolesa (st) Swedish: (slang) aina (sv) n., polis (sv) Telugu: రక్షక భటుడు (te) (raxaka bhatudu) Volapük: (male or female) poldan (vo), (male) hipoldan (vo), (female) jipoldan (vo)

Verb

police (third-person singular simple present polices, present participle policing, simple past and past participle policed)

1. (transitive) To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).

   Extra security was hired to police the crowd at the big game.

2. (transitive) To patrol an area.
   • 2006, Robert B. Parker, Hundred-Dollar Baby, Putnam, ISBN 0399153764, page 275,

     "Fire off several rounds in a residential building and stop to police the brass?"

See also

• Wikipedia article on police

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Czech

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

police f.

1. shelf (structure)

Derived terms

• polička

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French

Etymology

From Latin politia (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πόλις (polis, “city”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /pɔ.lis/, SAMPA: /pO.lis/

Noun

police f. (plural polices)

1. (uncountable) police

   Fuyez, la police arrive !

   Run, the police are coming!

2. (countable) (typography) fount, font

Related terms

• policier

See also

• flic
• gendarme
• keuf

Verb

police

1. first-person singular present indicative of policer
2. third-person singular present indicative of policer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of policer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of policer
5. second-person singular imperative of policer

Anagrams

• picole, picolé