cop

«cop» in Mova's school dictionary: a police officer — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a cop, cops); verb (cop, cops, copped, copping)

meaning for a pupil

1) (informal) A cop is a police officer. tree →

2) (UK slang) To cop something is to get or receive it, usually something bad: «You'll cop it for that!» tree →

3) (slang) To cop a look is to take a quick look: «Cop a look at this». tree →

4) (UK informal) Not much cop means not very good. tree →

5) To cop out is to avoid doing something you should do; a cop-out is a weak excuse. tree →

6) To cop to something (US) is to admit it. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, films and everyday talk, «cop» is the casual word for police officer; in safety, children learn that police officers can help if they are lost. In British slang «you'll cop it» warns of trouble. Phrases: cops and robbers, cop out, not much cop, cop it, cop a feel (rude).

examples

• A cop helped us find our way home. tree →
• We played cops and robbers in the playground. tree →
• You'll cop it when Mum sees the mess! tree →
• That film wasn't much cop. tree →
• Saying you were busy is a cop-out. tree →
• Cop a look at my new trainers. tree →
• He finally copped to eating the last biscuit. tree →

note

Informal; in formal writing say «police officer». «Cop» is less respectful than «officer». Past forms: copped, copping (double «p»).

In the corpora

• "Fair cop" is British slang for admitting you were caught out fairly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «cop» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.