cop

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A police officer.

   A cop pulled us over for driving too fast.

2. 2
   verb

   To get, buy, or take hold of something.

   He stepped out to cop a newspaper and some coffee.

3. 3
   verb

   To admit to something, especially a crime or mistake.

   He finally copped to taking the money.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

The verb cop, recorded from the early 18th century with the meaning “to catch,” comes from the northern English dialect word cap, “to capture or arrest.” Cap probably goes back to Latin capere, “to take or seize.” The police-officer sense developed through copper, literally a catcher.

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.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary