# cop

Pronunciation: say "KOP" US /kɑp/, UK /kɒp/, AUS /kɔp/

## Noun

1. A police officer, or sometimes a guard who keeps watch over prisoners. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A police officer, or sometimes a guard in a prison.
   - _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._

## Verb

2. To obtain, purchase, or get hold of something, from everyday goods to, in some uses, drugs. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To get or buy something, like new shoes or concert tickets.
   - _She copped the last pair of limited-edition sneakers online._
   - _He used to cop pills from a guy behind the gas station._
3. To take a look, a glance, or a similar quick action. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To take a look or a quick glance at something.
   - _Cop a look at the sunset before it fades._
   - _He copped a glance at the test scores sitting on the teacher's desk._
4. To admit to something, especially involvement in a crime or other wrongdoing. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To admit that you did something wrong, often a crime.
   - _The suspect copped to the burglary after hours of questioning._
   - _Politicians rarely cop to mistakes until the evidence becomes impossible to deny._
5. To receive or be forced to bear something unwelcome, especially blame or punishment for a particular act of wrongdoing. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To receive something bad, like blame or punishment, whether you want it or not.
   - _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._
6. To adopt or take on something, such as an attitude, pose, or manner. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To take on a way of acting or speaking, like an attitude.
   - _He copped a tough-guy pose for the photo._
   - _Teenagers often cop the slang of whatever show they're streaming._
7. To steal; to take something that belongs to someone else. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To steal, or to take something that is not yours.
   - _Somebody copped my umbrella from the stand by the door._
   - _Pickpockets cop wallets in the crowded subway during rush hour._

## Noun

8. The top or highest point of something, especially the summit of a hill. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The very top of something, especially the top of a hill.
9. A spider, the eight-legged creature known for spinning webs to catch insects. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A spider, the small eight-legged creature that spins webs.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To recruit a prostitute to work in the group, or stable, that a pimp controls.
- (noun) A piece of armor of roughly domed shape, particularly one protecting a shoulder, elbow, or knee.
- (noun) A cone-shaped roll of thread, such as cotton or silk, wound onto a spindle or tube in spinning.
- (verb) To see a particular railway locomotive for the first time and record it, as a trainspotter does.
- (noun) A merlon, one of the solid upright sections of a battlement that alternate with its open gaps.

## Origin

**Meanings 2–7** — 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").
**Meaning 9** — 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.
**Meaning 8** — 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cop (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).