'tec

name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A detective. slang

    ""In the morning the blessed 'tecs will be out in all the stations, no doubt. And if they once got hold of her, for one reason or another she would be lost to him indeed.""

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Detective Comics (an American comic book series) slang

    "Of course, the Batman’s debut in ’Tec #27 is tame by comparison"

Example

More examples

""In the morning the blessed 'tecs will be out in all the stations, no doubt. And if they once got hold of her, for one reason or another she would be lost to him indeed.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

A clipping of detective.

Etymology 2

Clipping of detective. C.f. 'tec (“detective”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.