Heading
Hadatsch or Hatschier (Viennese
thieves'); aie Herren (the police
force generally; literally 'the
gentlemen'); Husche, Huscher,
Husskiefel or Husskopf (a mounted
policeman); Iltis or Iltisch
(thieves'); Kapdon (from the
Hebrew kophad: literally 'to
draw together,' or intransitively
'to cut off'; applied to a clever
policeman); Karten (the police.
Cf., Garden = guards); Koberer
(the officer in charge of the regulations
over registered prostitutes;
Koberer = 'fancy-man,' or
'protector'); Klisto (a mounted
policeman; from the Hanoverian
gypsy glisto); Kreuzritter
(Viennese thieves' = a policeman
who is also a soldier; more correctly,
a police-soldier); Lailesch-*mir
(a night policeman; from
the Hebrew lailo, 'the night');
Laterne (Viennese thieves'); Lederzeug
(a mounted policeman);
Mischpoche (a Hebrew word
signifying 'the family,' 'the
relations'; gang of robbers; the
inmates of a prison; the police
force taken as a whole); Polenk
or Polente (Hanoverian slang for
the police; possibly from the
Gypsy polontschero = 'the night-watchman'
or 'herdsman');
Poliquetsch (a term applied either
to the force or to a single
member); Quetsch (Cf., foregoing);
Schin (an abbreviation,
being the Hebrew letter (
Hebrew characters), for
the turnkey of a prison, a policeman,
etc.; ein platter Schin, a
policeman who makes common
cause with a burglar; miser Schin,
a policeman who is hated);
Spinatwächter (soldiers' for a
police-soldier; in allusion to the
green uniform); Spitz or Spitzl
(a vigilant policeman, from Spitz
= pointed, from which is derived
Spitz-bube, a thief); Teckel
(Hanoverian for foot-police);
Zaddik (from the Hebrew signifying
'the just' or 'pious one';
used sarcastically as a nickname
for the guardians of the right);
Zenserei (Viennese thieves':
Zenserer = a police superintendent.
Apparently the modern
form of the old Sens, Sins, Söns,
Sims, or Simser, of which the
derivation is clearly to be found
in Zent or Cent, from the Centenæ
of the Frankish kings, who
divided the counties into Centenæ
and Decaniæ for the purposes of
administration).
Italian Synonyms. Falcon de draghetti (literally 'a hawk preying on schoolboys'); sbirre.
Spanish Synonym. Abrazador (m; literally 'one who embraces'; abrazar = to hug, or clasp).
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, p. 21. 'The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick's poke by the copper when he frisked him'; [i.e.] the pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his pantaloons pocket full of money.
1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. The professors of slang, however, having coined the word, associate that with the metal, and as they pass a policeman they will, to annoy him, exhibit a copper coin, which is equivalent to calling the officer copper.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 237. I daresay the coppers quite expected us the next night, and looked out for us. . . . Coppers, I may inform the reader, is slang for police.
1889. Punch, 3 Aug., p. 49, col. 2. Young 'Opkins took the reins, but soon in slumber he was sunk—(Indignantly) When a interfering copper ran us in for being drunk!
Copperheads, subs. (American).—A
nickname applied to different
sections of the American
nation: first to the Indian; then
