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• cop
  cop

  noun

  a police officer.
• COP
  COP

  abbreviation

  coefficient of performance.
• cop.
  cop.

  abbreviation

  copper.
• Cop.
  Cop.

  abbreviation

  Copernican.

SEE ALSO:

Slang dictionary results for cop.

cop

¹ American  

[kop] / kɒp /

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.

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cop ² American  

[kop] / kɒp /

verb (used with object)

Slang.

• cops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• copped,
  past participle,  past
• copping
  present participle

1. to catch; nab.

2. to steal; filch.

3. to buy (narcotics).

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verb phrase

1. cop out

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

      He never copped out on a friend in need.

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

   2. cop a plea.

idioms

1. cop a plea,

   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.

cop ³ American  

[kop] / kɒp /

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.

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COP ⁴ American  

abbreviation

Thermodynamics.

1. coefficient of performance.

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cop. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. copper.

2. copyright; copyrighted.

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Cop. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. Copernican.

2. Coptic.

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cop ¹ British  

/ kɒp /

noun

1. another name for policeman

2. an arrest (esp in the phrase a fair cop )

3. an instance of plagiarism

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verb

1. to seize or catch

2. to steal

3. to buy, steal, or otherwise obtain (illegal drugs) Compare score

4. Also: cop it. to suffer (a punishment)

   you'll cop a clout if you do that!

5. slang

   1. to accept a penalty without complaint

   2. to have good fortune

cop ² British  

/ kɒp /

noun

1. a conical roll of thread wound on a spindle

2. dialect the top or crest, as of a hill

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COP ³ British  

abbreviation

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

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cop ⁴ British  

/ kɒp /

noun

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

   that work is not much cop

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Usage

What else does cop mean? A cop is an informal term for a police officer. As a verb, cop is used in a variety of slang expressions meaning "grab" or "obtain," from copping a feel on someone (not recommended) to copping out on going to a party (meaning “not going”) to copping to (meaning “confessing to”) eating the last slice of pizza.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• copping
  present
• copped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cop
  simple
• cops
  simple
• have copped
  perfect
• has copped
  perfect
• am copping
  progressive
• are copping
  progressive
• is copping
  progressive
• have been copping
  perfect progressive
• has been copping
  perfect progressive

Past

• copped
  simple
• had copped
  perfect
• was copping
  progressive
• were copping
  progressive
• had been copping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cop
  simple
• will have copped
  perfect
• will be copping
  progressive
• will have been copping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

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”; see cup

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Explanation

A cop is a police officer. If you realize you're speeding in a school zone, you might look around nervously, hoping you won't see a cop. Cop is an informal, somewhat derogatory word for a police officer. When it's a verb, it means "to steal" or to "strike an attitude." An angry cop might say to a young troublemaker, "Hey, don't cop an attitude with me!" In the US, a legal defendant can also "cop a plea," or agree to a plea bargain. The earliest meaning of cop was "to catch," probably from the Latin capere, "to take."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cop COP cop. Cop. cops copped copping

I think the job of regulators is to go there and police the markets, be the cop on the beat and punish wrongdoers who seek to take advantage.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

The book abruptly flashes back to 1992 to focus on George Washington Jonson, a black Atlantis cop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

“I feel like an undercover cop right now,” she says, clearly getting a rush.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Langley responded to Lambert, saying the cop must have known she was from Texas, given the chaos unfolding in the car.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Some kind of good cop, bad cop switch up to get him to say things he shouldn’t.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

UN Climate chief Simon Stiell has defended the negotiations while acknowledging their limitations: "No single COP can fix this global crisis, but each takes meaningful steps forward," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

"I took the decision to announce that people wanted to do exploratory drilling there before COP because the interests of our country and our company were at stake."

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

ConocoPhillips COP -2.32%decrease; red down pointing triangle lowered its production outlook for the year due to uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

The emergence of this new "coalition of the willing" raises questions about whether it represents a shift away from the COP process altogether.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

The Frenchman or Englishman is confronted with COP; the sound of that is SAR!

From What is Coming? by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Ruff recounted the salon owner saying, "Oh my God, did you hear? One of the contestants is from Bethlehem. He's a cop. I was like, 'Oh my God, that's crazy.'"

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

“Always be respectful to the cop. Don’t talk down to him. Do what he says,” said Robinson, who spent 13 years as a Detroit police officer.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2023

"So, I am a cop. And I'm from the hood like you," the gentleman continued, "We aren't all bad. As a matter of fact, most of us are good and . . ."

From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2023

"I was a really good cop. I was a really good cop and I was a really good leader," Melissa Williams, 48, told KDVR's Problem Solvers team.

From Fox News ● Jan. 25, 2022

“Get a cop. There’s never a cop when you need one.”

From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

“I know who he is. They call him the Honest Cop. The party has its eye on him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was put up for Assemblyman.”

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

"The French correction" is the Metro's headline, embedding a picture showing a row of Paris riot cops next to the caption "Formez vos batallions".

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Before McClatchy, Lindsay reported for the Houston Chronicle's metro desk on the night cops beat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

This is "no sweat" for the "Andy cops", according to the Sun.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Laura Overdeck arrived on the scene at one point and told cops she wanted her soon-to-be ex gone, the Post reported.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

“Munching cabbages in someone’s backyard, apparently. The lady of the house is not amused. West side of the lot. Get her out of there before the cops come.”

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Outside of a few exceptions, substantial shares of college students in all disciplines have copped to ChatGPT-ing their way through school.

From Slate ● May 20, 2026

Peter Attia, the longevity guru and bestselling author who recently resigned from CBS when his sophomoric banter with Epstein came to light, copped to his blind attraction to power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

I could have copped it for a couple of days but it went on for five days.

From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026

“That’s when I copped on – what I had seen after I fell down that hole were babies.”

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025

Ducky’s mom had came to the game and she took him home and me and Nick copped the subway uptown.

From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers

To be clear, Ballmer’s not copping to the laundry list of allegations in the league’s investigation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Perhaps she considers it a dramatic cheat, as though the writer were copping out of the hard work of dramatization.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025

South African lock Lood de Jager will miss the rest of the Autumn Series of internationals after copping a four-match ban for a no-arms tackle a win over France at the weekend.

From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025

Hugh got involved when he got "fed up with farmers copping a lot of flak" about their emissions.

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2025

You know, check the place out—make sure ain't no badges copping some z's in the back.

From "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers

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