cop
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cop¹
- /kɒp/ UK
- /kɑp/ US
- /kɔp/ Australia
Rhymes with -ɒp
Where it comes from
Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *coppen, *copen, from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, hijack”), from Old Frisian kāpia (“to buy”), whence West Frisian keapje, Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koopi, kuupe. Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.
verb cops · copping · copped
- To capture or arrest someone.
- To obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take. You see yourself as the kind of guy who wakes up early on Sunday morning and steps out to cop the Times and croissants.
- 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.
- To see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.
- To steal. Copycat tryna cop my manner / Watch your back when you can't watch mine / Copycat tryna cop my glamor / Why so sad, bunny? Can't have mine
- To adopt. No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.
- To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing. I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?
- To recruit a prostitute into the stable. I said, 'Tell your tricks to call you here.' She laid the bearskin and freaked the joint off with her lights and other crap. Except for the fake stars it was a fair mock-up of her pad where I had copped her.
- To take (a look, glance, etc.). Cop an eyeful of this!
cop²
- /kɒp/ UK
- /kɑp/ US
- /kɔp/ Australia
Rhymes with -ɒp
Where it comes from
Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from the verb cop (“to lay hold of”) above, in reference to arresting criminals. An erroneous folk etymology derives it from the acronym “Constable On Patrol” (C.O.P.).
noun cops
-
A police officer or prison guard.
Similar: 5-O, alphabet, barney, beatsman, bizzie, bluebottle, bluecoat, blue heeler, blue meanie, bobby, body snatcher, bogey
cop³
- /kɒp/ UK
- /kɑp/ US
- /kɔp/ Australia
Rhymes with -ɒp
Where it comes from
From Middle English coppe, from Old English *coppe, as in ātorcoppe (“spider”, literally “venom head”), from Old English copp (“top, summit, head”), from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, round vessel, head”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve”). Cognate with Middle Dutch koppe, kobbe (“spider”). More at cobweb.
noun cops
- A spider.
cop⁴
- /kɒp/ UK
- /kɑp/ US
- /kɔp/ Australia
Rhymes with -ɒp
Where it comes from
From Middle English cop, coppe, from Old English cop, copp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, basin, round object”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew-. Cognate with Dutch kop, German Kopf.
noun cops
- A quill or tube upon which silk is wound.
- A merlon.
- A roughly dome-shaped piece of armor, especially one covering the shoulder, the elbow, or the knee. […] the elbow cop or coudiere for the elbow; and the rerebrace or arriere-bras for the upper arm. The shoulder cop, pauldron or epauliere which covered the shoulder, and often a large part of the breast and back, was usually considered a part of the arm guard.
- A conical ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.
- The top, summit, especially of a hill. Cop they vſe to call / The tops of many Hils
COP⁵
noun COPs
- Initialism of close of play
- Initialism of conference of the parties; also CoP or Cop. COP stands for conference of the parties under the UNFCCC, and the annual meetings have swung between fractious and soporific, interspersed with moments of high drama and the occasional triumph (the Paris agreement in 2015) and disaster (Copenhagen in 2009).
- Initialism of common operational picture
- Initialism of community ophthalmic physician
- Initialism of center of pressure
- Initialism of coefficient of performance
- Initialism of code of practice
- Initialism of community of property
- Initialism of cholesterol oxidation product
proper noun
- Abbreviation of ConocoPhillips The companies said the deal will make the new Conoco (COP) the largest independent oil-and-gas company in the United States, with daily production surpassing 1.5 million barrels. (Diversified oil companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron (CVX) pump more oil.)
Cop⁶
noun Cops
- Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”). Rachel Kyte, a former senior World Bank official who is now dean of the Fletcher school at Tufts University in the US, and a close observer of Cops, said the war in Ukraine and the UK’s geopolitical relations were also key reasons to go.
CoP⁷
noun CoPs
- Initialism of center of pressure
- Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”).
- Abbreviation of Code of Points
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pig, nail, bull, fuzz, copper, collar, knock off, hook, glom, pick up, thieve, nab, apprehend, snitch, arrest, chicken
Translations
Every language
verb to capture, to take (informal)
| Deutsch | erlangen, holen |
|---|---|
| Italiano | afferrare, prendere, catturare, acciuffare |
| Ελληνικά | παίρνω paírno |
| Русский | схвати́ть sxvatítʹ |
noun police officer (informal)
| Español | tombo, paco, paca, madero, pitufo, pitufa |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | おまわりさん o-mawari-san, 察 satsu |
| 中文 | 條子 /条子 tiáozi, 帽子叔叔 màozishūshū, 雷子 léizi |
| Português | polícia, tira |
| Français | flic, keuf, poulet, police |
| Deutsch | Bulle |
| Italiano | piedipiatti, poliziotto, poliziotta, secondino, secondina, sbirro |
| Ελληνικά | μπάτσος bátsos, μπατσίνα batsína, αστυφύλακας astyfýlakas |
| Română | gabor |
| Русский | коп kop, мент ment, ляга́вый ljagávyj, лега́вый legávyj, му́сор músor, фарао́н faraón |
| Tiếng Việt | cớm |
| العربية | شُرْطِيّ šurṭiyy |
| עברית | שוטר shotér, שוטרת shotéret |
Talk about this word "cop." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cop. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cop. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cop "cop." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cop.Cite this
@misc{cop_2026,
title = {cop},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cop},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
