rozzer

English

Etymology

Late 19th century UK. Etymology unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒzə(ɹ)/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒzə(ɹ)

Noun

rozzer (plural rozzers)

1. (UK, slang) A police officer.
   • 1888 May 26, The Sporting Times:

     "Another wrong un," says the carman. "Hi, Mr. Graham!"—and up walks a rozzer and buckles me tight.

   • 1893, P. H. Emerson, Signor Lippo, Burnt-Cork Artiste:

     If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun.

   • 2017 March 25, Angie Errigo, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian‎^[1], TV & Radio blog:

     Jed Mercurio’s corrupt cop hit remains one of the best shows on TV, but surely every rozzer in the Midlands knows who Kate Fleming is by now?

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:police officer

Translations

(slang) police officer

• French: flic (fr) m, poulet (fr) m, keuf (fr) (verlan)
• Icelandic: lögga (is) f
• Italian: poliziotto (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: madero (es) (Spain), chota (es) m (N Mexico, El Salvador), tira (es) (Mexico, Argentina, Chile)
• Turkish: aynasız (tr)

References

• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers (1903) “rozzer”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume VI, [London: […] Harrison and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 65.
• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890) “rozzer”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 187.