Cop

//kɒp// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Abbreviation of ConocoPhillips. abbreviation, alt-of

    "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.)"

Noun
  1. 1
    A police officer or prison guard. informal
  2. 2
    A spider. obsolete
  3. 3
    The ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.
  4. 4
    Initialism of close of play. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
  5. 5
    Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”). alt-of

    "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."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    Alternative letter-case form of COP (“conference of the parties”). alt-of
  2. 7
    uncomplimentary terms for a policeman wordnet
  3. 8
    The top, summit, especially of a hill. obsolete

    "Cop they vſe to call / The tops of many Hils"

  4. 9
    Initialism of conference of the parties; also CoP or Cop. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable

    "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)."

  5. 10
    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."

  6. 11
    Initialism of common operational picture. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  7. 12
    A tube or quill upon which silk is wound.
  8. 13
    Initialism of community ophthalmic physician. Ireland, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  9. 14
    A merlon.
  10. 15
    Initialism of coefficient of performance. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  11. 16
    Initialism of code of practice. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  12. 17
    Initialism of community of property. South-Africa, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  13. 18
    Initialism of cholesterol oxidation product. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    to capture or arrest someone dated, informal, transitive
  2. 2
    take into custody wordnet
  3. 3
    To obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take. informal, transitive

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

  4. 4
    take by theft wordnet
  5. 5
    To (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing. transitive

    "When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    To see and record a railway locomotive for the first time. slang, transitive
  2. 7
    To steal. transitive

    "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"

  3. 8
    To adopt. transitive

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

  4. 9
    To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing. intransitive, slang, usually

    "I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?"

  5. 10
    To recruit a prostitute into the stable. slang, transitive

    "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."

  6. 11
    To take (a look, glance, etc.). slang, transitive

    "Cop an eyeful of this!"

Etymology

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 West Frisian keapje, Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koopi, kuupe. Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.

Etymology 2

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

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.

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.

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