cop

See also: COP, còp, cöp, cọp, and çöp

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

cop (plural cops)

  1. (obsolete) A spider.

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, to grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, to hijack”), from West Frisian kapia (“to take away”), from Old Frisian kapia (“to buy”). Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.

Verb

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, trainspotting, slang) to see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.
  4. (transitive) to steal.
  5. (transitive) to adopt.
    No need to cop an attitude with me, junior.
  6. (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
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from cop (“one who cops”) above, in reference to arresting criminals.

Noun

cop (plural cops)

  1. (slang, law enforcement) A police officer or prison guard.
Synonyms
  • See also Thesaurus:police officer
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English cop, coppe, from Old English cop, copp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, basin, round object”), from Proto-Indo-European *gu-. Cognate with Dutch kop, German Kopf.

Noun

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.
    • Drayton
      Cop they used to call / The tops of many hills.
  3. (obsolete) The crown (of the head); also the head itself. [14th-15th c.]
    The stature is bowed down in age, the cop is depressed.
  4. A tube or quill upon which silk is wound.
  5. (architecture, military) A merlon.

References

See also

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan colp, from Late Latin colpus (“stroke”), from earlier Latin colaphus.

Pronunciation

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

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

Alternative forms

Synonyms

Derived terms

Further reading

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zopf.

Noun

cop m

  1. braid

Derived terms

French

Etymology

A shortened form of copain.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔp/

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

  1. (informal) A friend, a pal.

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English cop, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔp/

Noun

cop (plural coppes)

  1. summit (of a mountain or hill)
  2. top, tip, topmost part
  3. top of the head, crown
  4. head

Descendants

References

Old French

Noun

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

  1. Alternative form of colp

Slovak

Etymology

From German Zopf.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡sɔp/

Noun

cop m (genitive singular copu, nominative plural copy, genitive plural copov, declension pattern of dub)

  1. braid

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • copík, copček

Further reading

  • cop in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Volapük

Noun

cop (plural cops)

  1. (tools) hoe

Declension

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