What is the origin of the word cop?

Question

Actually. give me the definition

Answer 1

cop1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kp)
n. Informal
A police officer.
One that regulates certain behaviors or actions: “Faced with the world recession of the early 1980s,... the World Bank... became a stern economic taskmaster and cop” (Richard J. Barnet).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Short for copper2.]

Answer 2

My old man was a cop. Here's what he says:

It is short for copper. Back when there were really beat cops, the cop on the night beat had to go door to door checking to see if a door had been opened or messed with in any way.

The way they did that was to put a coin somewhere in or on top of the door. When they or another cop came by later on, if that coin was missing or had fallen to the ground, they knew the door had been messed with somehow and they would check that business closer for a possible break-in.

But the police departments would not pay for the money. They made the cops use their own coins. Obviously they used the lowest coin they could, a penny that was made from copper.

So a beat cop became known as a "copper" and that was later shortened to "cop".

And by the way, cops continue to call each other "coppers" to this day but it's one of those words that only a cop can call another. They get insulted if a civilian used that term in referring to a police officer.

I know there is some truth to that because my dad used to tell me once in a while that they discovered a burglary by seeing a coin on the ground when they shined a spotlight on a door. By then, however, the practice had altered somewhat. The business owners put the coin on the door knowing that is how the cop in the car could check the door without getting out of the car.

Answer 3

There is some truth to the other answers that COP is an acronym for "Constable on Patrol". It was in the early days of English law that Constables would make rounds at night and hang a sign on the door that read "Constable on Patrol".

COP is also associated with the Latin word "capere" meaning to seize or snatch or the gypsy word Kap and Cop meaning to take. In the 19th century, "to cop" meant to snatch grab or arrest hence the word "cop" or "copper". It has also been associated with the copper badges that were issued to early police officers. From the same root came the term "to cop a plea" and to "cop out".

Answer 4

I found ask yahoo because of this very question. Here is what the pros at yahoo say, "Around the year 1700, the slang verb cop entered English usage, meaning 'to get ahold of, catch, capture.' By 1844, cop showed up in print, and soon thereafter the -er suffix was added, and a policeman became a copper, one who cops or catches and arrests criminals."

Answer 5

So many wrong answers, back in the early days of America (not Britain) the word cop was used by officers as a short term for CHIEF OF POLICE, and caught on from there.

Answer 6

In the version I learned, the tall, rounded policeman's helmet, originating in England had a copper lining for protection. Street toughs started calling the officers cops and the name continued.

Answer 7

Constable On Patrol

Answer 8

As was told to me by a very elderly uncle many years ago---was a time when the police wore copper badges and accents (buttons / buckles etc)--as slang set in around this they were refered to as coppermen---years later shortened to copper--years later shortened to cop (don't know how true this is --never had reason to doubt it-- actually never questioned it) May be that someone has got the real story ?? who knows ??

Answer 9

If you're talking about the police officer "cop", it is British Slang. Often used in its "copper" form, the slang definition means to grab or take hold of.

Answer 10

#1 - From Latin and Old French capere to capture.
1. Used colloquially to take, especially fraudulently, as in "copping a plea"

2. To assume or adopt, as to cop an attitude.

#2 - Short for copper "police officer", itself from "cop" above ("one who cops", e.g. criminals). Another theory behind this etymology is cop is an acronym for "constable on patrol"

Sometimes explained as deriving from copper buttons or badges of early NYPD uniforms, though this is often stated to be a folk etymology.
[edit]

Answer 11

Feel free to check me on this . . . "cop" is short for "copper" and refers to the buttons on a police officer's uniform -- "coppers". Like "bobby", the nickname for English PM Robert Peel who set up the Metropolitan Police Force, this expression comes from Victorian England.