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

Eventually captured by Hungarian patrolmen and executed by a firing squad, Senesh might have been one more name on the endless ledger of Holocaust victims.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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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Related Words

• constable 
• policewoman