patrolman

[puh-trohl-muhn]

noun

plural

patrolmen 

1. a police officer who is assigned to patrol a specific district, route, etc.

2. a person who patrols.

patrolman

/ pəˈtrəʊlmən /

noun

1. a man, esp a policeman, who patrols a certain area

2. a man employed to patrol an area to help motorists in difficulty

Gender Note

See -man.

Word History and Origins

Origin of patrolman¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50; patrol + -man

Example Sentences

County Sheriff’s Department have done the heavy lifting – keeping control with helicopters, hundreds of patrolmen on foot and hundreds of patrol cars.

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“They didn’t care about me or my daughter or those poor highway patrolmen. They ruined their lives. They were after Frank,” she said.

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Asked how he’d like to be remembered, Wambaugh summed it up with the no-nonsense crispness of a patrolman handing out a speeding ticket.

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They heard how the highway patrolman told Ms. Hamer, “We are going to make you wish you was dead.”

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Ronald Reagan called in more than 2,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of highway patrolmen, who descended on campus with weapons.

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Related Words

• constable 
• policewoman