Heading
to fall ill; equivalent to the Fr. faire tomber malade); ins Leck baun (Viennese thieves.' M.H.G. luken = to lock up); millek sein (to be imprisoned); trefe fallen (to be apprehended under grave circumstances; e.g., with burglar's instruments or stolen goods); versargen (to imprison for a long time); abfassen (students' slang); ankappen (popular colloquialism); klemmen (M.H.G. klembern = to press heavily); taffen, tofes nehmen, tofes lokechnen, or tofes lekichnen (from the Hebrew tophas); vercheweln, vercheifeln or verheifeln (from the Hebrew chobal; also to bind or gag).
Copbusy, verb (thieves').—See
quot.
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To hand over the booty to a confederate or girl—to copbusy.
Copper, subs. (popular).—A policeman.
[From cop, verb, senses 1
and 2, (q.v.), to catch, + er;
literally a catcher.] Equivalents
are robin or robin-redbreast;
m.p. (i.e., member of police); copperman
(an Australian prison
term); but for synonyms, see
Beak, to which may be added the
following.
French Synonyms. Un chasse-coquin (popular: also = a 'beadle' and 'bad wine.' Literally 'a beggar-driver': Cf., chasse-chien = a beadle employed to drive away dogs); un chasse-noble (thieves'); le cadratin (police; a term applied to the detective force; properly what printers call an 'em quad'); l'en-plaque (thieves'); une fauvette à tête noire (thieves': literally 'a black-cap'); un bricul or briculé (thieves': an inspector of police); une casserole (thieves' = a detective; also a prostitute. Properly 'a saucepan' or warming-pan); un emballeur (thieves': properly 'a packer'); un ficard (thieves'); un arnacq or arnache (thieves'); un vesto de la cuisine (thieves' = a detective. Vesto = haricot bean; cuisine = detective force); rabatteur de pantes (thieves' = a beater of game, man being the quarry); un bjgorneau (properly a periwinkle); un cognac (thieves'); un quart (pop: faire son quart = to be on the watch); un radis noir (common: also = a priest or devil-dodger); un renifleur (thieves': renifler = to sniff); mari Robin (thieves'); un marchand or solliceur de lacets (thieves': lacets = hand-cuffs); lapin ferré (a mounted policeman); un liêge (thieves').
German Synonyms. Blaukragen (Viennese thieves': for an armed policeman; literally 'a blue collar,' in allusion to the uniform); Blitzableiter (literally 'the lightning conductor'); Bosser-Isch (a play upon words is involved in this term. It is derived from the Hebrew bosar = meat. Bosser-Isch signifies literally 'meat-man,' i.e., a butcher, or translated into literary German, Fleischmann. In the first half of the last century a certain Lieutenant Fleischmann was especially zealous in 'persecuting' the robber gangs infesting the district between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Every hunter of rogues and vagabonds has since then been called a Bosser-Isch or Fleischmann. Hence its application to the police); Greiferci (specially applied to the 'criminal' police);
