cop
Pluralcops
Pluralcops
- 1A police officer, or sometimes a guard who keeps watch over prisoners.
The cop who pulled me over let me off with a warning.
The cops on the cell block ran a count of the prisoners every two hours.
UsageVery common in speech and news; formal writing usually prefers police officer. The cops often means the police in general.
Similarcopper, bobby, fuzz, bull, bizzie
Note
Short for copper, and the copper has nothing to do with metal. It comes from the verb cop, 'to lay hold of', so the officer is named for making arrests. That ties the noun straight back to the getting-hold sense of the verb.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The police noun cop is shortened from copper, meaning someone who captures, and is related to the getting-hold verb. en.wikipedia.org
- The police term is unrelated to copper as a metal; explanations involving copper uniform fittings are erroneous. en.wikipedia.org
- Copper derives from cop meaning to lay hold of, referring to arrests, and shares the verb's etymology. en.wikipedia.org
- 2To obtain, purchase, or get hold of something, from everyday goods to, in some uses, drugs.
She copped the last pair of limited-edition sneakers online.
He used to cop pills from a guy behind the gas station.
Similarget, buy, obtain, score, snag
Note
The everyday getting-and-buying sense that heads a family of verbs, all traced to an old word for seizing. It works on both sides of the street: the narrator of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City (1984) imagines himself as a man who steps out on Sunday to cop the Times and croissants, while to cop smack means buying heroin from a dealer.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Jay McInerney wrote Bright Lights, Big City, first published in 1984. openlibrary.org
- The novel's narrator imagines himself going out on Sunday morning to obtain the Times and croissants, using cop. en.wiktionary.org
- 3
Less common meanings
- 4To admit to something, especially involvement in a crime or other wrongdoing.
The suspect copped to the burglary after hours of questioning.
Politicians rarely cop to mistakes until the evidence becomes impossible to deny.
UsageFollowed by to + noun or -ing form: cop to the burglary, cop to breaking the window.
Oppositedeny
Note
You cop to a charge, a crime, or simply a fact, even an embarrassing nickname. In Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise a man cops to first-degree manslaughter, which is the courtroom flavor of the word.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Elmore Leonard wrote Mr. Paradise. penguin.co.uk
- In Mr. Paradise, a man is described as having copped to first-degree manslaughter. en.wiktionary.org
- 5To receive or be forced to bear something unwelcome, especially blame or punishment for a particular act of wrongdoing.
The goalkeeper copped most of the criticism after the team's loss.
Whoever leaked the memo will cop the punishment when the boss finds out.
UsageCommon in cop the blame and the idiom cop it (to be punished or get into trouble).
Similartake, receive, bear, shoulder, incur
Note
Here the verb takes what is coming: a blow, a beating, the blame. The bare idiom cop it means to be punished, as in Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding (1918): 'When they deserve to cop it.'
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Norman Lindsay wrote The Magic Pudding. gutenberg.org
- The Magic Pudding was first published in 1918. www2.sl.nsw.gov.au
- The quoted words occur in The Magic Pudding; the character speaking is Sam Sawnoff. gutenberg.org
- 6To adopt or take on something, such as an attitude, pose, or manner.
He copped a tough-guy pose for the photo.
Teenagers often cop the slang of whatever show they're streaming.
UsageMost often cop an attitude, with with before the person: Don't cop an attitude with me.
Similaradopt, assume, strike, affect
Note
Mostly heard with words for attitude and pose. Cop an attitude, clipped in speech to cop a 'tude, means to put one on, and it usually comes as a reproach aimed at someone else: 'No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.' The construction takes with before the person on the receiving end.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- 'Tude is a shortened form of attitude. en.wiktionary.org
- The illustrative quotation reproduces an unattributed usage example. en.wiktionary.org
- 7To steal; to take something that belongs to someone else.
Somebody copped my umbrella from the stand by the door.
Pickpockets cop wallets in the crowded subway during rush hour.
Similarsteal, nick, pinch, swipe, lift
Note
Taking what is not yours can mean things or style. Billie Eilish's 'Copycat' (2017) uses it of manner and glamor: 'Copycat tryna cop my manner.' Stealing someone's manner shades into wearing it yourself, so this sense sits close to the 'adopt' meaning. Context decides whether the speaker is accusing someone of theft or of imitation.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Billie Eilish's song 'Copycat' was released in 2017. en.wikipedia.org
- The song contains the exact lyric 'Copycat tryna cop my manner.' en.wiktionary.org
- The song also applies 'cop' to glamor. en.wikipedia.org
- 8The top or highest point of something, especially the summit of a hill.
Cop they vſe to call / The tops of many Hils
1622, Michael Drayton, “the thirtieth Song”Note
Already a word worth explaining in 1622, when Michael Drayton wrote: 'Cop they use to call / The tops of many hills.' The poet presents it as other people's name for a summit. It comes from Old English copp, 'top', the same word behind the old name for a spider.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The passage was first published in 1622, in the second part of Poly-Olbion. poly-olbion.exeter.ac.uk
- Michael Drayton wrote the quoted words; the item modernizes their spelling. poly-olbion.exeter.ac.uk
- The poem presents cop as other people's word for a hilltop. poly-olbion.exeter.ac.uk
- The hilltop sense descends from Old English copp, meaning top or summit. en.wiktionary.org
- The spider word has the same Old English top/head element. en.wiktionary.org
- 9A spider, the eight-legged creature known for spinning webs to catch insects.
Note
An obsolete name for the spider, found in Old English ātorcoppe, literally 'venom head'. The cop part is copp, 'top, head', which goes back through Germanic *kuppaz ('vault, round vessel, head'), possibly to a root meaning 'to bend, curve'. By that reckoning, a spider was a little poisonous head. The same rounded, head-like idea runs through the thread, armor, battlement and hilltop senses.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- Cop is an obsolete word for a spider. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English ātorcoppe means spider. en.wiktionary.org
- The compound can be interpreted as venom head, with copp supplying the top/head element. en.wiktionary.org
- The element is traced to reconstructed Germanic *kuppaz, glossed vault, round vessel, head. en.wiktionary.org
- The poisonous-head explanation is an interpretation of the compound's elements. en.wiktionary.org
- The thread, armor, battlement and hilltop senses share the rounded-object/top etymology. en.wiktionary.org
- 10To recruit a prostitute to work in the group, or stable, that a pimp controls.
- 11A piece of armor of roughly domed shape, particularly one protecting a shoulder, elbow, or knee.
- 12A cone-shaped roll of thread, such as cotton or silk, wound onto a spindle or tube in spinning.
- 13To see a particular railway locomotive for the first time and record it, as a trainspotter does.
- 14A merlon, one of the solid upright sections of a battlement that alternate with its open gaps.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
The origin is uncertain. It perhaps comes from Middle English coppen and Old English copian ("to plunder, steal"), or possibly from Middle French caper ("to capture") and Latin capiō ("to seize"), or possibly from Dutch kapen ("to seize, hijack").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The origin of the verb cop is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- One proposed origin connects cop with reconstructed Middle English *coppen and Old English copian, meaning 'to plunder, steal'. en.wiktionary.org
- Another proposed origin connects cop with Middle French caper, meaning 'to capture', from Latin capiō, meaning 'to seize'. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch kapen, meaning 'to seize, hijack', is another proposed origin. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English coppe came from Old English *coppe, found in the compound ātorcoppe ("spider," literally "venom head"). That word was based on Old English copp, meaning "top, summit, head," which goes back through Proto-Germanic *kuppaz ("round vessel, head") and possibly to Proto-Indo-European *gew- ("to bend, curve"). Middle Dutch koppe ("spider") is related.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Middle English coppe derives from reconstructed Old English *coppe, occurring in ātorcoppe, meaning spider, literally venom head. en.wiktionary.org
- The word was based on Old English copp, meaning top, summit, head. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English copp derives from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-Germanic *kuppaz had meanings including round vessel and head. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed connection to Proto-Indo-European *gew-, meaning to bend or curve, is possible rather than certain. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle Dutch koppe meant spider and is cognate with the English word. en.wiktionary.org
From Middle English cop and Old English copp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz ("vault, basin, round object"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gew-. It is related to Dutch kop and German Kopf.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Cop derives from Middle English cop and Old English copp. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English copp derives from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz. en.wiktionary.org
- The reconstructed Proto-Germanic word is glossed as vault, basin, round object. en.wiktionary.org
- A possible further origin is Proto-Indo-European *gew-. en.wiktionary.org
- Cop is related to Dutch kop and German Kopf. en.wiktionary.org