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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

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

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

The red light and a siren from a cop.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

The sessions went so well that Morali asked Willis to front the group, which adopted campy archetypes of masculinity — cop, cowboy and construction worker among them — in their stage costumes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Known for his signature "cop" and "admiral" stage personas, Willis left the group in 1980.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

There isn't a cop in the city who hasn't been charmed by them, nor a local business that hasn't benefitted hugely from the Tartan Army dollar.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

The cop takes one final look around and then steps toward the door.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

"If you electrify and you increase coal, then what are you doing?" veteran COP observer and E3G analyst Alden Meyer told AFP in Bonn.

From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026

The organisers stress that this meeting is not an alternative to COP, but see it as playing a key role in reviving that process.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

Major oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron have an advantage because they are experts at operating abroad, as does ConocoPhillips COP 1.00%increase; green up pointing triangle , the largest pure-play U.S. exploration-and-production company.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Countries on Saturday elected Chile's COP climate summit chief negotiator to revive stalled talks on striking a landmark global treaty tackling the scourge of plastic pollution.

From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 2026

It is more likely to be COPTIC, as the policeman of the period likes to call himself a "COP."

From Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 38, December 17, 1870. by Various

Reflecting on filming the series, Locatelli told the Table Manners podcast: "I think I was a bad cop. I'm strict. Strict about cleanliness and organisation. Those little skills that you teach them slowly."

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

“I’ll play bad cop. It’s all right,” the Chiefs’ star tight end said.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

"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

“In class, some kids talk about what a good cop my dad is. He is a good cop. But he can’t be if he killed a kid, can he?”

From "Ghost Boys" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

“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

“You can’t stop trash collection. We need cops and firefighters and mechanics.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026

But this isn’t a case about cops and robbers.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

But just a few days into Scotland's Miami adventure, a video was released showing Miami cops telling a man to remove a cone he'd placed on a statue as he "wasn't in Boston anymore".

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

The cops are jaded and too easily steered toward the wrong suspects, moving the gentle citizen gumshoe to step in and offer her gifted expertise.

From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026

Maybe Javier had police officers in his family and thought that bad cops were a rare occurrence.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

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

Surrey, having copped the worst of the conditions early in the match, showed the fortitude and skill not to lose it.

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026

And no athlete’s copped to the injection, which, for the record, is supposedly hyaluronic acid, if you’re shopping.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026

But I hadn’t, and now Ms. Faraci was going to wave that thing in the air until someone copped to leaving it on my desk.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson

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

Shaquille O’Neal drops a bomb on Jimmy Fallon, copping to the truth about the viral moment where he scooted off the ‘Inside the NBA’ set for a bathroom break.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025

He hasn’t gotten where he is by questioning coaches or copping attitudes.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2024

"I remember standing on the fine-leg boundary in Pretoria and copping it from South Africa fans," he says.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2023

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