cop

cop

See also: COP, còp, côp, cöp, cọp, çöp, čop, and чоп

Translingual

Symbol

cop

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Coptic.

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English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɒp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɑp/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒp

Etymology 1

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 Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koope. 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.
   • 1984, Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City, →ISBN, page 4:

     You see yourself as the kind of guy who wakes up early on Sunday morning and steps out to cop the Times and croissants.

   • 1995, Norman L. Russell, Doug Grad, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story (page 191)

     He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.

   • 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.
   • 2017, Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell (lyrics and music), “Copycat”, in Don't Smile at Me, performed by Billie Eilish:

     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

5. (transitive) To adopt.

   No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.

6. (transitive) To earn by bad behavior.
   • 1992, Roxanne Shanté (lyrics), “Straight Razor”, in The Bitch Is Back:

     You bust in the house, another bitch’s mouth is suckin on your man's dick
     What do you do: think straight? Or do you run to the back,
     Open the trunk to the nickel-plate 38?
     “Wait wait, baby, please!”
     That's the shit he's coppin when he’s down on both his knees

7. (intransitive, usually with “to”, slang) To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing.

   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

8. (transitive, slang) Of a pimp: to recruit a prostitute into the stable.
   • 1967, Iceberg Slim, Pimp, published 2009, page 90:

     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.

   • 2011, Shaheem Hargrove; Sharice Cuthrell, The Rise and Fall of a Ghetto Celebrity, page 55:

     The code was to call a pimp and tell him you have his hoe plus turn over her night trap but that was bull because the HOE was out of his stable months before I copped her.

Derived terms

• cop a feel
• cop a load
• cop a look
• cop and blow
• cop a plea
• cop it
• cop off
• cop off with
• cop on
• cop oneself on
• cop one's whack
• cop out, cop-out
• cop the bun
• cop the needle

 

Translations

to capture, to take (informal)

Bulgarian: хващам (bg) (hvaštam), пипвам (bg) (pipvam), арестувам (bg) (arestuvam) Czech: sebrat (cs) pf Finnish: napata (fi), ottaa (fi) German: erlangen (de) Greek: παίρνω (el) (paírno) Italian: afferrare (it), prendere (it), catturare (it) Russian: схвати́ть (ru) (sxvatítʹ)

Etymology 2

Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from the verb cop (“to lay hold of”) above, in reference to arresting criminals.

Noun

cop (plural cops)

1. (informal) A police officer or prison guard.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer

Usage notes

• Originally a slang term, but now in general use, including by journalists and police. Terms like police officer are generally considered more respectful.

Derived terms

• beat cop
• contempt of cop
• copaganda
• cop car
• cophouse
• copicide
• cop-killer
• cop knock
• copless
• coppish
• coppy
• cops and robbers
• cop shop
• copwise
• cop-wise
• death by cop
• fair cop
• fish cop
• good cop bad cop
• grammar cop
• gravel road cop
• kotong cop
• mall cop
• motor cop
• ninja cop
• rent-a-cop
• robocop
• silent cop
• suicide by cop
• telecop

 

Translations

police officer

Arabic: شُرْطِيّ‎ (ar) (šurṭiyy) Belarusian: мент m (mjent), більдзю́га m (bilʹdzjúha) (offensive) Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m (policaj), ченге (bg) n (čenge) Catalan: bòfia (ca) f Cherokee: ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ (didaniyisgi) Chinese: Mandarin: 條子／条子 (zh) (tiáozi) Czech: polda (cs) m, policajt (cs) m, bachař (cs) m Danish: panser c, strisser c, strømer c Dutch: diender (nl) m, flik (nl) m, smeris (nl) m Estonian: ment, pollar, võmm, kardavoi, sandarm (et), miilits (obsolete) Finnish: pollari (fi), kyttä (fi), poliisi (fi), poliisimies (fi), skoude (fi) (slang) French: flic (fr) m, keuf (fr) m, poulet (fr) m, police (fr) f (Quebec) German: Gendarm (de), Bulle (de) m, Polizist (de) m, Cop (de) m Greek: μπάτσος (el) m (bátsos), αστυφύλακας (el) m (astyfýlakas) Hebrew: שוטר‎ (he) m (shotér), שוטרת‎ f (shotéret) Hungarian: zsaru (hu) Italian: piedipiatti, poliziotto (it) m, secondino (it) m, sbirro (it) m (offensive) Japanese: おまわりさん (o-mawari-san) (colloquial, inoffensive), 察 (ja) (satsu) Latin: vigil (la) m Macedonian: цајкан m (cajkan), џандар m (džandar) Norwegian: purk (no) m Polish: gliniarz (pl) m, glina (pl) m, pies (pl) m (offensive), menda (pl) f (offensive) Portuguese: tira (pt) m or f Russian: коп (ru) m (kop) (American), мент (ru) m (ment) (offensive), ляга́вый (ru) m (ljagávyj), лега́вый (ru) m (legávyj) (offensive), му́сор (ru) m (músor) (more offensive), фарао́н (ru) m (faraón) (slang, dated), полица́й (ru) m (policáj) (slang) Sicilian: zaffu m Slovak: poliš (sk) m, hekáč m Spanish: tombo (es) m, paco (es) m, madero (es) m, pitufo (es) m (Spain, colloquial, of the municipal police), picoleto (es) m (Spain, colloquial, of the Guardia Civil) Swedish: snut (sv) c Turkish: aynasız (tr), dev (tr) Ukrainian: мент m (ment) Vietnamese: cớm (vi) Yiddish: פּאָליציאַנט‎ m (politsyant), פּאָליציאַנטקע‎ f (politsyantke)

Etymology 3

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

cop (plural cops)

1. (obsolete) A spider.

Etymology 4

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

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.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, OCLC 1049089293:

     Cop they use 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 roughly dome-shaped piece of armor, especially one covering the shoulder, the elbow, or the knee.
   • 2004, Kevin Grace; Tom White, Cincinnati Cemeteries: The Queen City Underground, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 142:

     […] 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.

   • 2013, K. J. Parker, The Proof House, Orbit, →ISBN:

     In the middle was a pile of armour – breastplates, helmets, vambraces, gorgets, pauldrons, cops, cuisses, sabatons, gauntlets, all mangled and ruined, ...

   • 2013, George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 364:

     Tilting Cuisses 457. In the 15th century the knee cops were merged in the plate cuisses. In the East, except in Japan, knee cops as separate pieces of armor were seldom used east of Turkey.

5. A tube or quill upon which silk is wound.
6. (architecture, military) A merlon.

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Cop”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.

See also

• check cop (probably etymologically unrelated to above terms)
• not much cop (probably etymologically unrelated to above terms)

Anagrams

• CPO, OCP, OPC, PCO, POC, PoC

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A-Pucikwar

Etymology

From Proto-Great Andamanese *cup.

Noun

cop

1. basket

References

• Juliette Blevins, Linguistic clues to Andamanese pre-history: Understanding the North-South divide, pg. 20 (2009)

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Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔp/

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

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

Alternative forms

• colp (dialectal)

Synonyms

• (time, occasion): vegada, volta

Derived terms

• copejar
• cop de gràcia
• cop baix
• cop d'estat
• cop d'ull
• de cop
• un cop

Further reading

• “cop” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cop”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “cop” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cop” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Chinese

Etymology

From clipping of English copy.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kop¹, kap¹

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: kop¹, kap¹
    • Yale: colloquial sounds not defined, kāp
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kop⁷, kap⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: colloquial sounds not defined, keb¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɔːp̚⁵/, /kʰɐp̚⁵/

Verb

cop

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to copy; to plagiarise
   • 2014 February 3, 王棘蘭, “創意回收”, in 獨立媒體‎:

     還有，像再造紙般，直接將「講呢d」、9gag圖等，別人的二次創作加工或「照cop」，再造成「三次創作」。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     还有，像再造纸般，直接将“讲呢d”、9gag图等，别人的二次创作加工或“照cop”，再造成“三次创作”。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     waan⁴ jau⁵, zoeng⁶ zoi³ zou⁶ zi² bun¹, zik⁶ zip³ zoeng¹ “gong² ni¹ di¹”, gau² gek¹ tou⁴ dang², bit⁶ jan⁴ dik¹ ji⁶ ci³ cong³ zok³ gaa¹ gung¹ waak⁶ “ziu³ kop¹”, zoi³ zou⁶ sing⁴ “saam¹ ci³ cong³ zok³”. [Jyutping]

     Also, in a fashion similar to recycled paper, [they] polished or directly copied others' derivative work such as “to speak of this” [a meme] or images by 9gag, creating “twice derivative work”.

   • 2022 January 14, “COLLAR新歌驚現亞視《百萬富翁》廠景 網民好奇問：原來仲未拆”, in 新假期‎:

     網民直言：「副歌有一段仔直頭照cop akb首river」。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     网民直言：“副歌有一段仔直头照cop akb首river”。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     mong⁵ man⁴ zik⁶ jin⁴: “Fu³ go¹ jau⁵ jat¹ dyun⁶ zai² zik⁶ tau⁴ ziu³ kop¹ ei¹ kei¹ bi¹ sau² river”. [Jyutping]

     Netizens said outspokenly: “There's a small section in the chorus that simply directly copies River by AKB48”.

Related terms

• copy

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Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zopf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sop]

Noun

cop m inan

1. braid

Declension

Declension of cop

	singular	plural
nominative	cop	copy
genitive	copu	copů
dative	copu	copům
accusative	cop	copy
vocative	cope	copy
locative	copu	copech
instrumental	copem	copy

Derived terms

• copánek m
• copatý m

Further reading

• cop in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• cop in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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French

Etymology

A shortened form of copain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔp/

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

1. (informal) a friend, a pal

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• cope, coppe

Etymology

From Old English cop, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

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

• English: cop
• Scots: cop, coppe
• Yola: kappas (plural)
• → Welsh: copa

References

• “cop, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-25.

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Occitan

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

1. Alternative spelling of còp

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Old French

Noun

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

1. Alternative form of colp

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish copp, borrowed from either Old English copp or Middle English copp, both meaning "top," from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʰɔhp/

Noun

cop m (genitive singular coip, plural coip)

1. foam, froth

Derived terms

• copach (“foamy, frothy”)
• cop na mara (“sea foam, spume”)
• copraich (“fizz”, verb)
• cop ri do bheul (“foaming at the mouth”)

Verb

cop (past chop, future copidh, verbal noun copadh, past participle copte)

1. capsize
2. pour out, tip out
3. foam, froth

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
cop	chop
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Slovak

Etymology

From German Zopf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡sop]

Noun

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

1. braid

Declension

Declension of cop

	singular	plural
nominative	cop	copy
genitive	copu	copov
dative	copu	copom
accusative	cop	copy
locative	cope	copoch
instrumental	copom	copmi

Synonyms

• vrkoč

Derived terms

• copík, copček

Further reading

• cop in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

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Volapük

Noun

cop (nominative plural cops)

1. hoe (tool)

Declension

declension of cop

	singular	plural
nominative	cop	cops
genitive	copa	copas
dative	cope	copes
accusative	copi	copis
vocative 1	o cop!	o cops!
predicative 2	copu	copus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only

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Welsh

Etymology

From Middle English coppe (spider), from Old English copp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, orb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔp/

Noun

cop m (plural copynnod or copynnau)

1. (obsolete) spider

   Synonyms: copyn, corryn, pryf cop, pryf copyn

Usage notes

No longer found as an independent word, cop is now used as an element in other words for "spider", such as copyn, pryf cop and pryf copyn and derived terms.

Derived terms

• copyn (“spider”)
• pryf cop (“spider”)
• pryf copyn (“spider”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cop	gop	nghop	chop
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cop”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies