cop

¹

[ kop ]

noun

, Informal.

1. a police officer.
2. a person who seeks to regulate a specified behavior, activity, practice, etc.:

   Once we have the government dictating language usage, then we'll start getting language cops.

cop

²

[ kop ]

verb (used with object)

, Slang.

, copped, cop·ping.

1. to catch; nab.
2. to steal; filch.
3. to buy (narcotics).

verb phrase

1. Slang.
   1. to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out (often followed by on or of ):

      He never copped out on a friend in need.

      You agreed to go, and you can't cop out now.

   2. cop a plea.

cop

³

[ kop ]

noun

1. a conical mass of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a spindle.
2. British Dialect. the top or tip of something, as the crest of a hill.

COP

⁴

abbreviation for

, Thermodynamics.

1. coefficient of performance.

cop.

⁵

abbreviation for

1. copper.
2. copyright; copyrighted.

Cop.

⁶

abbreviation for

1. Copernican.
2. Coptic.

cop

¹

/ kɒp /

noun

1. slang.
   usually used with a negative worth or value

   that work is not much cop

cop

²

/ kɒp /

noun

1. another name for policeman
2. an arrest (esp in the phrase a fair cop )
3. an instance of plagiarism

verb

1. to seize or catch
2. to steal
3. to buy, steal, or otherwise obtain (illegal drugs) Compare score
4. Alsocop it to suffer (a punishment)

   you'll cop a clout if you do that!

5. cop it sweet slang.
   1. to accept a penalty without complaint
   2. to have good fortune

cop

³

/ kɒp /

noun

1. a conical roll of thread wound on a spindle
2. dialect.
   the top or crest, as of a hill

COP

⁴

abbreviation for

1. Certificate of Proficiency: a pass in a university subject

Word History and Origins

Origin of cop¹

First recorded in 1855–60; shortening of copper ²

Origin of cop²

First recorded in 1695–1705; of uncertain origin; compare cap (obsolete) “to arrest,” Scots cap “to seize,” ultimately from dialectal Old French caper “to take,” from Latin capere

Origin of cop³

First recorded before 1000; Middle English cop(e), coppe “summit, peak; top (of a tower, building),” also “crown (of the head),” Old English cop(p) “tip, top, summit”; probably cognate with Dutch kop, German Kopf “head”; cup

Word History and Origins

Origin of cop¹

C19: n use of cop ¹(in the sense: to catch, hence something caught, something of value)

Origin of cop²

C18: (vb) perhaps from obsolete cap to arrest, from Old French caper to seize; sense 1, back formation from copper ²

Origin of cop³

Old English cop, copp top, summit, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to Old English copp cup

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. cop a plea, Slang.
   1. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence.
   2. to plead guilty to a lesser charge as a means of bargaining one's way out of standing trial for a more serious charge; plea-bargain.

Example Sentences

“Time is running out,” Brandy McDaniels of the Pit River Nation said last month at COP 16, the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, bringing the plea to a world stage.

From Los Angeles Times

Yu says that is to show that she can, for better or worse, navigate between a procedural where cardboard cop characters take out organized crime in roughly 44 minutes and another reality, where a waiter searches for his identity.

From Los Angeles Times

"If you're constantly guessing which boss will turn up -- the good cop or the bad cop -- then you wind up emotionally exhausted, demoralized, and unable to work to your full potential," Dr. Xu explains.

From Science Daily

Manson seems to cop to several killings in the early 1960s in Mexico in newly shared audio recordings of the convicted cult leader speaking from prison.

From Salon

The United Arab Emirates and Egypt who hosted previous COP climate summits faced similar criticisms for their treatment of civil society groups.

From BBC