cop

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cop" and чоп

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Coptic.

Symbol

cop

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Coptic.

See also

English

Pronunciation

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.

Verb

cop (third-person singular simple present cops, present participle copping, simple past and past participle copped)

  1. (transitive, informal, dated) To capture or arrest someone.
  2. (transitive, originally New York dialectal, informal, African-American Vernacular) To obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take.
    • 1984, Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City, →ISBN, page 4:
      You see yourself as the kind of guy who wakes up early on Sunday morning and steps out to cop the Times and croissants.
    • 1995, Norman L. Russell, Doug Grad, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story, page 191:
      He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.
    • 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 10:
      Heroin appeared on the streets of our town for the first time, and Innie watched helplessly as his sixteen-year-old brother began taking the train to Harlem to cop smack.
    • 2020, Internet Money, Gunna, Don Toliver, “Lemonade”, in B4 The Storm ft. NAV:
      Off the juice, codeine got me trippin' copped the coupe, woke up, roof is missin'...
    • 2021, Polo G, “RAPSTAR”, in Einer Bankz : Synco (music), Hall of Fame:
      Uh, copped a BMW, new deposit, I picked up another bag Like fuck it, I'ma count while I'm in it...
    • 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):
      Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin', might inspire them. Look, I know you ain't payin' bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.
  3. (transitive) To (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing.
    When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.
    • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 34:
      I take no shame to fight the lame / When they deserve to cop it.
    • 1992, “Straight Razor”, in Roxanne Shanté (lyrics), The Bitch Is Back:
      You bust in the house, another bitch’s mouth is suckin on your man's dick
      What do you do: think straight? Or do you run to the back,
      Open the trunk to the nickel-plate 38?
      “Wait wait, baby, please!”
      That's the shit he's coppin when he’s down on both his knees
    • 2009, Lee Headington, Relentless, page 5:
      I now understand that my dad didn't really have much of a father-son relationship and may have found my behaviour hard to deal with. Maybe that is why I copped a beating.
  4. (transitive, trainspotting, slang) To see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.
  5. (transitive) To steal.
  6. (transitive) To adopt.
    No need to cop a 'tude with me, junior.
  7. (intransitive, usually with “to”, slang) To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing.
    I already copped to the murder. What else do you want from me?
    Harold copped to being known as "Dirty Harry".
    • 2005, Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, page 295:
      He shot a guy in a bar on Martin Luther King Day and copped to first-degree manslaughter
  8. (transitive, slang, of a pimp) To recruit a prostitute into the stable.
    • 1967, Iceberg Slim, Pimp, published 2009, page 90:
      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.
    • 2011, Shaheem Hargrove, Sharice Cuthrell, The Rise and Fall of a Ghetto Celebrity, page 55:
      The code was to call a pimp and tell him you have his hoe plus turn over her night trap but that was bull because the HOE was out of his stable months before I copped her.
  9. (slang, transitive) To take (a look, glance, etc.).
    Cop an eyeful of this!
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Short for copper (“police officer”), itself from the verb cop (“to lay hold of”) above, in reference to arresting criminals. An erroneous folk etymology derives it from the acronym “Constable On Patrol” (C.O.P.).

Noun

cop (plural cops)

  1. (informal) A police officer or prison guard.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer
Usage notes
  • Originally a slang term, but now in general use, including by journalists and police. Terms like police officer are generally considered more respectful.
Derived terms
Translations

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.

Noun

cop (plural cops)

  1. (obsolete) A spider.
Derived terms

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.

Noun

cop (plural cops)

  1. A quill or tube upon which silk is wound.
  2. (architecture, military) A merlon.
  3. (military, historical) A roughly dome-shaped piece of armor, especially one covering the shoulder, the elbow, or the knee.
    • 2004, Kevin Grace, Tom White, Cincinnati Cemeteries: The Queen City Underground, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 142:
      […] 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.
    • 2013, K. J. Parker, The Proof House, Orbit, →ISBN:
      In the middle was a pile of armour – breastplates, helmets, vambraces, gorgets, pauldrons, cops, cuisses, sabatons, gauntlets, all mangled and ruined, ...
    • 2013, George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 364:
      Tilting Cuisses 457. In the 15th century the knee cops were merged in the plate cuisses. In the East, except in Japan, knee cops as separate pieces of armor were seldom used east of Turkey.
  4. (spinning) A conical ball of thread wound on to the spindle in a spinning machine.
  5. (obsolete) The top, summit, especially of a hill.
Derived terms
Translations

References

See also

Note: these terms are probably not related etymologically to the ones above.

Anagrams

A-Pucikwar

Etymology

From Proto-Great Andamanese *cup.

Noun

cop

  1. basket

References

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan colp, from Late Latin colpus (“stroke”), from earlier Latin colaphus.

Pronunciation

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

  1. hit, blow, strike
  2. time, occasion
    Synonyms: vegada, volta
Alternative forms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Per GDLC, possibly from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, lap; fabric fold; pocket”), with influence from copa (“cup”). First attested in 1324.[1] In some senses (e.g. "snowflake"), influenced by Spanish copo (“flake”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

cop m (plural cops)

  1. (archaic) large cup; bowl
  2. (historical) former dry measure (compare English cup)
  3. snowflake
  4. heart of a cabbage
  5. upper part of a tree trunk (where the branches grow from)
  6. (fishing) catch bag (bag for holding caught fish, attached to a net)
  7. (weaving) skein

References

  1. ^ “cop”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Further reading

Chinese

Alternative forms

  • (eye dialect) cup

Etymology

From clipping of English copy.

Pronunciation


Verb

cop

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to copy; to plagiarise

Czech

Etymology

    Borrowed from German Zopf.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈt͡sop]

    Noun

    cop m inan

    1. braid

    Declension

    Derived terms

    Further reading

    French

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Borrowed from English cop.

    Noun

    cop m (plural cops)

    1. (North America, informal) cop (police officer)
      Synonym: flic
      Tu travailles avec les cops de Gatineau ?
      Do you work with the Gatineau cops?

    Etymology 2

    Clipping of copain.

    Noun

    cop m (plural cops)

    1. (informal) a friend, a pal

    Indonesian

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Onomatopoeic. Inherited from Malay [Term?].

    Noun

    cop (plural cop-cop)

    1. sound of a kiss on someone's cheek
      Synonyms: cup, kecup

    Verb

    cop

    1. to kiss
      Synonyms: cup, kecup

    Etymology 2

    Unknown. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

    Particle

    cop

    1. foul! (expression)

    Etymology 3

    Borrowed from English chop (“chop”).

    Noun

    cop (plural cop-cop)

    1. (sports, badminton, tennis) chop, a blow

    Etymology 4

    Borrowed from Acehnese [Term?].

    Verb

    cop

    1. to repair damaged nets or nets while waiting for the schedule to go to sea

    Further reading

    Middle English

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    From Old English cop, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /kɔp/

    Noun

    cop (plural coppes)

    1. summit (of a mountain or hill)
    2. top, tip, topmost part
    3. top of the head, crown
    4. head

    Descendants

    • English: cop
    • Scots: cop, coppe
    • Yola: kappas (plural)
    • → Welsh: copa

    References

    Occitan

    Noun

    cop m (plural cops)

    1. alternative spelling of còp

    Old English

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /kop/
    • Rhymes: -op

    Noun

    cop m

    1. alternative form of copp

    Old French

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    cop oblique singular, m (oblique plural cos, nominative singular cos, nominative plural cop)

    1. alternative form of colp

    Etymology 2

    From Frankish *kopp.

    Noun

    cop oblique singular, m (oblique plural cos, nominative singular cos, nominative plural cop)

    1. head
    Derived terms

    Polish

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

      Borrowed from German Zopf.

      Noun

      cop m inan

      1. (Chełmno) synonym of warkocz

      Etymology 2

      See czop.

      Noun

      cop m inan

      1. (Zagórze) alternative form of czop (“beveled end of a beam; a plug for plugging holes”)

      Further reading

      • Kazimierz Nitsch (1907), “cop”, in “Dyalekty polskie Prus zachodnich”, in Materyały i Prace Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie (in Polish), volume 3, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page 387

      Scottish Gaelic

      Etymology

      From Middle Irish copp, borrowed from either Old English copp or Middle English copp, both meaning "top," from Proto-West Germanic *kopp.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /kʰɔhp/

      Noun

      cop m (genitive singular coip, nominative plural coip)

      1. foam, froth

      Derived terms

      • copach (“foamy, frothy”)
      • cop na mara (“sea foam, spume”)
      • copraich (“fizz”, verb)
      • cop ri do bheul (“foaming at the mouth”)

      Verb

      cop (past chop, future copidh, verbal noun copadh, past participle copte)

      1. capsize
      2. pour out, tip out
      3. foam, froth

      Mutation

      Mutation of cop
      radical lenition
      cop chop

      Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
      All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

      Slovak

      Etymology

        Derived from German Zopf.

        Pronunciation

        • IPA(key): /t͡sɔp/, [ˈt͡sɔp]
        • Rhymes: -ɔp

        Noun

        cop m inan (genitive singular copu, nominative plural copy, genitive plural copov, declension pattern of dub)

        1. braid
          Synonym: vrkoč

        Declension

        Declension of cop
        (pattern dub)
        singularplural
        nominativecopcopy
        genitivecopucopov
        dativecopucopom
        accusativecopcopy
        locativecopecopoch
        instrumentalcopomcopmi

        Derived terms

        • copík, copček

        Further reading

        • “cop”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

        Volapük

        Noun

        cop (genitive copa, plural cops)

        1. hoe (tool)

        Declension

        Declension of cop
        Singular Plural
        Nominative cop cops
        Genitive copa copas
        Dative cope copes
        Accusative copi copis
        Predicative1 copu copus
        Vocative o cop o cops
        1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

        Welsh

        Etymology

        From Middle English coppe (spider), from Old English copp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, orb”).

        Pronunciation

        • IPA(key): /kɔp/
        • Rhymes: -ɔp

        Noun

        cop m (plural copynnod or copynnau)

        1. (obsolete) spider
          Synonyms: copyn, corryn, pryf cop, pryf copyn

        Usage notes

        No longer found as an independent word, cop is now used as an element in other words for "spider", such as copyn, pryf cop and pryf copyn and derived terms.

        Derived terms

        Mutation

        Mutated forms of cop
        radical soft nasal aspirate
        cop gop nghop chop

        Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
        All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

        References

        • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “cop”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies