| 释义 |
▪ I. † cop, n.1 Obs.
[Old Northumbrian copp ? masc., cup, vessel, corresp. to ON. kopp-r cup, small vessel, MDu. cop(p), MLG. and Du. kop drinking-cup, OHG. chopf, MHG. kopf beaker, bowl, generally thought to be akin in origin to OE. cuppe fem., cup. Med.L. had both coppa and cuppa; cf. It. coppa, Pr. copa, F. coupe: the relations between the Teutonic and Romanic words are difficult to determine.
Copp and cuppe apparently came down into ME. as distinct words; but ME. had also coppe, app. a mixture of the two, or a northern form of cuppe, cup, assimilated to copp. It is not possible to separate the plural of copp from that of coppe, and the examples of coppes have consequently been all considered under cup; but it is possible that some of them belong here.]
1. A drinking-vessel, a cup.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark ix. 41 Sua hua..drinca ᵹeseleð iuh calic vel copp wætres on noma minum. Ibid. John xix. 29 Bolla full vel copp full of æcced. c1460Towneley Myst. 91 1st Pastor. I drynk for my parte. 2nd P. Abyde, lett cop reylle. 1500–20Dunbar The Dance 96 Him followit mony fowll drunckart, With can and collep, cop and quart.
b. to drink or play cop-out: to drain the cup.
1508Dunbar Testament 101 Drynkand and playand cop-out. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 631 At euirilk draucht tha playit ay cop out. 1818[see cap n.3 1 b].
2. A measure of quantity: the fourth of a Scotch peck; now also cap. [Perhaps a different word.]
1497Haliburton's Ledger in C. Innes Scot. in Mid. Ages viii. (1860) 245, 4 copis of fegis, cost 20 g. the cop. Ibid., 2 copis of raysins cost 5s. the cop.
3. Comb. cop-ambry, a chest or closet for cups and vessels; cop-house, a house or room for the same purpose. See also the combinations of cup.
15..Aberdeen Reg. (Jam.), A langsald bed, a copamry, & ane schuring. 1542Inventories (Jam.), Memorandum, thir veschell underwritten..In the cophous, etc. 1663Spalding Troub. Chas. I, I. 157 (Jam.) They brake down beds, boards, cop-ambries, glass windows, etc.
▪ II. cop, n.2|kɒp|
Forms: 1– cop, 3–7 coppe, (7 cops).
[OE. cop, copp top, summit; generally thought to be identical with prec., since in MDu. cop developed (after 12th c.) the sense ‘skull’ and then ‘head’, and kopf was in MHG. ‘cup’, in mod.Ger. ‘head’. Cf. also the analogy of L. testa pot, shell, skull, It. testa, F. tête head. But in OE. the sense ‘skull’ or even ‘head’ is not known, only that of ‘top, summit’, which hardly runs parallel with the words in the other langs., besides being so much earlier. It is possible that the two words are distinct or only related farther back.
(One might suppose that kop(p) top, was the native OE. word, and copp of the Northumbrian Gospels a. ON. kopp'r: but the whole subject of the history and origin of these words in Teut. is very obscure: see Kluge, and Franck, also cup.) There was also an OF. coppe, summit (cf. coperoun), by which our word may have been influenced.]
I.
1. a. The top or summit of anything. Obs. or dial.
a1000Aldhelm Gl. (Mone) 1576 (Bosw.) Coppe, summitate. c1205Lay. 7781 And þa turres cop [c 1275 toppe] mihte weoren a cniht mid his capen. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 59/185 A gret treo, So heiȝ þat he was a-drad toward þe coppe i-seo. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 738 Tisbe, This wal..Was clove a two ryght from the cop a-doun. c1386― Prol. C.T. 554 Upon the cop right of his nose he hade A werte, and thereon stood a tuft of heres. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 81 In Ynde beeþ trees, þat haueþ coppis as hiȝe as me schal schete wiþ an arwe. 1388Wyclif Jer. ii. 16 [Thei] han defoulid thee, til to the cop of the heed. c1440Promp. Parv. 91 Coppe or coper of a other thynge [MS. K, top of an hey thyng; Pynson 1499 coppe of an hye thinge], cacumen. 1578Lyte Dodoens ii. lix. 225 Y⊇ floures..lacke suche a come or coppe. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 271 The wals..want their battlements, curtain, and coppe. 1611Cotgr., Pignon, a Finiall, Cop, or small Pinacle on the ridge or top of a house. [1879G. Meredith Egoist I. 255 A venerable gentleman for whom a white hair grew on the cop of his nose.]
b. esp. of a hill.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. iv. 44 On þe cop of þe mountayngne. 1382Wyclif Luke iv. 29 And ledde him to the cop of the hil on which the cite of hem is found. c1400Mandeville (1839) iii. 17 Aboven at the Cop of the Hille is the Eir so cleer. c1430Life St. Kath. (1884) 63 In þe coppe of the hille plente of oyle welleth oute largely. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 107 This cape is a high hil..and on the East corner it hath a high cop. [1628Coke On Litt. i i. §1 note, Cope signifieth a Hill, and so doth Lawe. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Cop, cope at the beginning of a name, signifies a top of an hill, as Copeland.]
Hence in many names of hills, as Coulderton Cop, Kinniside Cop in Cumberland, Meltham Cop near Huddersfield, Mowl Cop in Cheshire, Fin Cop in Derbyshire, etc. †c. The head. Obs.
c1264Song agst. K. of Almaine in Pol. Songs (Camd.) 70 Sire Simond de Montfort hath suore by ys cop. c1275Lay. 684 Bi þe coppe [c 1205 þone toppe] he him nam, also he hine wolde slean. c1326Poem on Times Edw. II in Pol. Songs 326 And there shal symonye ben taken bi the cop. a1600Robin Hood 28 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 27 A payre of blacke breeches the yeoman had on, his coppe all shone of steele.
†d. A crest on the head of a bird. Obs.
1483Cath. Angl. 75 Cop, cirrus, crista est auium. 1570Levins Manip. 169 The cop on a birdes head, crista. 1606Holland Sueton. 23 The blacke cop, or hair-like fethers that it carieth upon the head. 1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 995 The one has a tufted Cops on the Head, the other is smooth feather'd. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 89 The top, or cop, of a pevit, plover or lap-wing.
†e. A tall or towering head-dress. Obs.
1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 395/1 The Jews cover for the head I have seen termed a Cop.
†2. A round piece of wood within the top of a bee-hive. Obs.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 37 The Cop is a round piece of wood an inch or two thick..convex, turned or hewed fit to the concavity of the top of the Hive.
3. a. Spinning. The conical ball of thread wound upon a spindle or tube in a spinning machine; see also quot. 1874.
1795Aikin Country Round Manchester 167 The custom of giving out weft in the Cops..grew into disuse. 1803Specif. Wood's Patent No. 2711. 2 These methods of forming the cop improves reeling much. 1837Penny Cycl. VIII. 96/1 While returning to the roller, the thread which has been spun is wound or built on the spindle in a conical form, and is called a cop. 1840Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 292 Never mind whether the man..ever made a ‘cop’ of cotton or not. 1864R. A. Arnold Cotton Fam. 33 Spinners..have, in technical language..to ‘doff the cops’; in other words..to remove and relieve the spindles of the spun yarn. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Cop, a tube, also known as a quill, for winding silk upon in given lengths for market; a substitute for skeins. 1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 998 At the commencement of the formation of a set of cops, when the yarn is being wound on the bare spindles, the spindles require to have a greater number of turns given to them than they do when the cop bottom is formed. 1880Spencer in Proc. Inst. Mech. Engineers 507 It is necessary..to wind the nose of the cop in all its stages equally close and firm.
b. transf. Applied to the form in which the line of a rocket-apparatus is wound.
1887Daily News 9 Mar. 6/7 The line is wound up in the form of a cop with a hollow extending throughout its whole length. The cop is placed in a canister, which has a hole in the rear end.
II. [Here are placed provisionally several senses, obs. or dialectal, possibly related to the preceding; though their history is uncertain.]
4. ? A heap, mound, tumulus: cf. cop v.1 1, coop n.3
1666in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 315 That the said Roger..throw the coppe hee made upon the highway..into the castle trench. 1823New Monthly Mag. IX. 16/1 Silver coins..found..in an old cop upon Cockey Moor, near Bolton. 1847Halliwell, Cop (1)..a heap of anything. North.
5. A conical heap of unbound barley, oats, or pease, or of straw or hay. (Chiefly in Kent.)
1512MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd for viij coppys off strawe xiiijd. ob. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 43 Corne..is presently to be bounde in sheaves; although Barly, Oates, and other Corne and Pulse is made up in Coppes and Ryckes, but not without hurt and hazard. 1648Earl Westmrld. Otia Sacra (1879) 175 With crooked Sickle reaps and bindes—Up into Sheaves to help the hindes; Whose arguing alon's in this, Which Cop lies well, and which amiss. 1695Kennett Par. Antiq. s.v. Coppire, A cop of hay, a cop of pease, a cop of straw, etc. are used in Kent for a high rising heap. 1736Lewis Tenet [= Thanet] 96 Cop of pease..15 sheaves in the field, and 16 in the barn. [Hence in Pegge, Halliwell, etc.] 1863Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 720–7 (in O.C. & F. Wds. 139) Cop of straw (Kent), the straw from sixteen sheaves. 1887Parish & Shaw Kentish Dial., Cop, a shock of corn; a stack of hay or straw.
6. An enclosing mound or bank; a hedge-bank. Chiefly in Cheshire.
In the first quot. the word is perhaps copse.
[1600Maides Metam. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 128, I do come about the coppes Leaping vpon flowers toppes.] 1822–56De Quincey Confess. (1862) 101 On the right bank of the river [Dee] runs an artificial mound, called the Cop. 1836Sir G. Head Home Tour 60 Walking by the side of the river, upon the Dee Cop as it is called (the large embankment by which some thousands of acres of reclaimed land were formerly enclosed). 1844Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 99–103. 1854 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs (1883) 97 And straightway at a hedgerow cop he drove his gallant steed. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Cop, a mound or bank. The raised earthen part of a fence in which the thorns are planted. 1887S. Cheshire Gloss., Cop, a hedge bank. Also commonly called hedge-cop.
7. The central ridge of a butt of ploughed land (butt n.6), lying midway between the ‘reens’ or gutters on each side.
1859Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XX. i. 221 The fashion was to plough in ‘five-bolt butts’, that is, small lands or stetches of ten furrows each; and the work being thus all ‘cops’ and ‘reanes’, not only was there a waste of ground from such a redundance of water-furrows, but there was a great loss of time in ploughing. 1876W. Worcester Gloss., Cop, in ploughing, the first ‘bout’ of a ‘veering’. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropshire Work-bk., Cop, the highest part of a ‘but’ in ploughed land. 1881Leicester Gloss. s.v., To ‘set the cops’ in ploughing is to mark out the first furrows on each side of the spaces or ‘lands’ into which the field is divided..The cops of a field in med. Latin are capita.
8. attrib. and Comb., as cop-changing, † cop-crowned adjs.; cop-bone, the knee-cap (dial.); † cop-castle (see quot.); † cop-height, a great height; cop-horse = cock-horse (dial.); cop reel, a machine which receives the yarn from the cops and winds it into hanks; so cop reeler; cop-spinner, a spinning machine combining in one frame the advantages of the throstle and mule; cop-tube (see quot.); cop-twist, ‘twist’ or warping yarn in ‘cops’, as taken off the spindles; cop warp, warp-yarn spun on to cops; cop-waste, the waste cotton from the cops; cop winder, one who winds yarn into the form of cops or winds yarn from the cops on to bobbins; cop-yarn, cotton yarn in ‘cops’.
1847–78Halliwell, *Cop-bone, the knee-pan. Somerset. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Cop-bone, the knee-cap.
1755Johnson s.v. Cop, A cob-castle, properly *cop-castle, a small castle or house on a hill.
1927T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk 131 One type of..*cop-changing automatic loom.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 3 The Genuensians for the most part have high and *coppe-crown'd heads.
1591in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. III. 93 That Envie, though she shoote on *cop-height, cannot reach her.
1877E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., *Cop-horse.
1890J. Nasmith Mod. Cotton Spinning Mach. xiii. 262 It depends upon whether it is employed to wind the yarn from cops or bobbins whether it is known as a ‘*cop’ or ‘bobbin’ reel... Ordinarily one swift only is used in a cop reel, and two in a bobbin reel.
1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 68 *Cop Reeler... Cop Winder.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 619 *Cop-tube, the tube in a spinning-machine on which the conical ball, or cop, of thread or yarn is formed.
1888Daily News 25 Apr. 2/5 Some spinnings of 32's and 40's *cop twist..an advance was quoted upon them of 1-16d. per lb.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 3653, Cotton yarns, *cop warp, doubled yarns.
1849Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 3 Nov. 696 Advt., Clean *cop-waste suitable for cleaning..engines.
1881*Cop winder [see cop reeler]. 1907Daily Chron. 11 Feb. 4/6 The reelers, hank makers, cop-winders, gassers, and doublers. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §367 Cop Winder; (i) winds yarn from cops, short cylindrical paper tubes, on to bobbins; (ii) winds weft yarn from spinning frame bobbins, or from hanks, into form of cops.
1851Art Jrnl. Illust. Catal. p. vi**/2 A conical-shaped coil of yarn..which..is slid off the spindle, in which state the article is ready for the market, under the denomination of *Cop yarn. 1887Daily News 16 July 6/8 For cop yarns spinners are willing to accept the lowest prices they have taken.
▪ III. † cop, n.3 Obs.|kɒp|
Forms: 1 -coppa, 3–6 coppe; 7 cob, q.v.
[OE. -coppa masc., prob. identical in stem with cop(p) top, head, or copp cup; occurring in the compound attorcoppa (attor, átor poison), Da. edderkop, Sc. eddercop, ethercap, see attercop, ettercap; the simple form appears also in MDu. (and mod.Flem.) coppe, cobbe, Westph. cobbe, spider; mod.Du. has spinnekop. Cf. also cob n.4; cobweb n., ME. coppeweb, copweb.]
A spider.
a1400–50Alexander 3300 Like to the werke, Þat þis coppis opon kell-wise knytt in þe woȝes. c1450Myrc 1937 Ȝef any flye, gnat, or coppe Doun in-to the chalys droppe.
▪ IV. cop, n.4 Obs. exc. dial.
Also copse.
[Derivation unknown: copse is app. for the plural cops, the plural being common in local names of this apparatus, e.g. lead-trees, ripples, etc.; but it is also possible that copse was really a singular, and cop mistakenly formed from it under the notion that it was a plural: cf. the history of copse n.]
The moveable frame attached to the front of a wagon or farm cart, or projecting all round its sides, so as to extend its surface when carrying a bulky load, as of hay, corn, copsewood, or the like.
1679P. Henry Diaries, etc. (1882) 279 A child..fell off y⊇ cop of y⊇ cart near Odford, his father driving the cart. 1770Ann. Reg. 154 [Taken to execution with] her coffin on the copse of the cart. 1841Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. i. 76 The outrigger, or ‘copse’ supported over the horse by an iron upright from the shafts. 1847–78Halliwell, Cop, that part of a waggon which hangs over the thiller⁓horse [no source or locality given].
▪ V. cop, n.5 slang.|kɒp|
[Cf. cop v.3 and copper4.]
A policeman. cops and robbers (orig. U.S.): a children's game in which ‘police’ hunt ‘robbers’; also (? nonce-use) cops and thieves and transf.
1859Matsell Rogue's Lex. 124 (Farmer) Oh! where will be..all the cops and beaks so knowin' A hundred stretches hence? 1867F. H. Ludlow Brace of Boys 262 What's a cop?.. That's what the boys call a policeman. 1884Breadwinners 212 ‘Who's afraid of half-a-dozen cops’, said a burly ruffian. 1903Independent (U.S.) 15 Jan. 146/1 When I was a youngster one of my favorite games was what we children called ‘Cops and Thieves’. 1938‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts (1939) xi. 119 They're going down to the Horseshoe Club to play cops and robbers with Alessandro. 1954Koestler Invis. Writing xx. 225 The sensation of participating in an exciting cops-and-robbers game. 1957Manvell & Huntley Film Music ii. 35 The villains are rounded up and hustled into a nearby police station, accompanied by a light musical parody in the ‘cops and robbers’ style of the silent film. 1959J. O'Donovan Visited xxxi. 201 He..was momentarily ashamed of himself, as if he had been caught playing cops and robbers.
▪ VI. cop, n.6 dial.
= cob n.8, a blow.
1884in Cheshire Gloss.
▪ VII. cop, n.7 slang.|kɒp|
[f. cop v.3]
1. Capture; used chiefly in phr. a fair cop.
1886Sessions' Papers Aug. 4/4 What do you want to search me for? You have got a good cop. 1889Standard 9 Oct. 3/7 (E.D.D.), Prisoner remarked it was ‘a fair cop’. 1891Daily News 24 Oct. 5/2 ‘It's a fair cop,’ said the thief. 1898Ibid. 13 Apr. 8/7 It's a fair cop; you have got me all right and no mistake. 1901G. B. Shaw Adm. Bashville iii. 329 Policeman. Sir: had I known your quality, this cop I had averted. 1935‘J. Guthrie’ Little Country iii. 65 The young man..glared round as if for some means of escape... ‘It's a fair cop!’ said the young man.
2. Catch, acquisition. With negative, no cop, not much cop: of no or little value or use, worthless.
1902J. Milne Epist. Atkins vii. 136 We are going to a place called Spion Kop, and I don't think it will be much of a ‘kop’ for our chaps. 1919J. B. Morton Barber of Putney xviii, ‘Once upon a time..this 'eap o' bricks was a first-class billet.’ ‘Doesn't look much cop now,’ said Tim. 1929E. Raymond Family that was ii. ii. 147 A month or two in service, which was no cop—no cop at all. 1932D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxiii. 306 The nobility ain't much cop these days, but Lord Peter is vell known. 1960H. Pinter Caretaker i. 15 At least they're comfortable. Not much cop, but I mean they don't hurt. 1970K. Giles Death in Church iii. 56 The house..has never been much cop. People don't like living opposite a church or a graveyard.
b. Without negative, esp. Austral. and N.Z. = catch n.1 11.
1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 271/2 To cop,..(Sporting), to win, to get money; a dead cop, a sure method of arriving at this result. 1916C. J. Dennis Songs Sentim. Bloke 120 Cop, an avocation, a ‘job’. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 20 Cop, a good job obtained by shrewdness or luck: an agreeable proposition: a bit of luck. 1944A. F. St. Bruno Desert Daze 11 Any other bottles that fell into his maw were distinct ‘cop’. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. vii. 143 Cop, profit, a job or trick from which a large return is gained. Ibid. ix. 174 Australian equivalents [of dead cert] are dead bird,..sure cop.
▪ VIII. cop
var. of cope n.4; erroneous singular of cops, copse.
▪ IX. cop, v.1 Now dial.|kɒp|
[from cop n.2 II.]
1. trans. To pile up in a tumulus, heap, or mound; to bank up.
a1552,1605[implied in copped ppl. a. 2 b]. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., To cop up a fence, to set up a fence. 1873Parish Sussex Dial., Cop, to heap anything up. 1887in Kentish Dial.
2. To put up unbound corn or hay in ‘cops’. (Now in Kent and Sussex.)
1581Act 23 Eliz. c. 10 §4 Before..such Corn or Grain shall be shocked, cocked, hilled or copped. 1581Lambarde Eiren. iv. iv. (1588) 444 In any ground where any corne or graine did then grow, or before it was shocked or copped. 1891J. M. Cowper (in letter), [In Kent] when rain threatened, the barley or oats were hurriedly copped, as hay is now, to save as much as possible from being wetted.
3. ‘To plough in ridges for planting’ (Radnor Gloss.).
▪ X. cop, v.2 dial.|kɒp|
trans. To throw, toss, ‘chuck’ (E. Anglia, Kent, Sussex).
1806Bloomfield Wild Flowers 36, I could have cop't them at their pates. a1825Forby Vocab. E. Anglia, Cop, to throw something upwards, in order to reach a mark at some moderate distance. 1845P. Parley's Ann. VI. 38 A pancake nicely copt, as the Suffolk people have it, who are reported..to throw a pancake up the chimney, then go to the street door, and catch it without smutting it. 1873Parish Sussex Dial., Cop, to throw. 1887in Kentish Gloss.
Hence cop-halfpenny n.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Cop-Halfpenny, the game more generally called chuck-farthing.
▪ XI. cop, v.3 north. dial. and slang.|kɒp|
[Perh. a broad pronunciation of cap v.2 (OF. caper to seize); in nearly all North Eng. glossaries; and now of general diffusion in the slang of schoolboys, criminals, policemen, etc.]
a. trans. To capture, catch, lay hold of, ‘nab’.
1704E. Ward Dissenting Hyp. 30 If the Cruel Stork should come, He'd Tyrannize and Cop up some [Frogs]. 1844tr. Eugene Sue's Myst. Paris iii. xi, Waiting until the patrol should pass to commence my robbery..in order to be copped. 1868Daily Tel. 7 Sept., The privileged driver, on dropping his fare..almost invariably ‘cops’ a job on his way back. 1883Huddersf. Gloss. s.v., A cricket ball is copt; so is a bird if hit with a stone. 1886T. Frost Remin. Country Journalist ii. (1888) 26 He copped Joe as he was coming out of the granary. 1888Pall Mall G. 11 June 8/1 Prisoner said, ‘Yes, I am the man. I am glad you have copped me.’
b. To steal.
1879Macmillan's Mag. Oct., 500/1, I was taken by two pals (companions) to an orchard to cop (steal) some fruit. 1931D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) viii. 163 Madame la Gimp does a little scrubbing business around a swell apartment hotel..and she cops stationery there. 1932J. T. Farrell Young Lonigan (1936) iii. 67 Johnny O'Brien ran home, and copped a piece of beefsteak from his old lady. 1955D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XXIV. 74 ‘Cop,’ he [sc. a pickpocket] says, and the duke man has the roll.
c. to cop it: to ‘catch’ it, to be punished, get into trouble; also, to die. So to cop out, cop a packet, etc. dial. and slang.
1884R. Holland Gloss. Chester 79 Cop, to catch, both in the sense of capturing, and in the semi-slang sense of being scolded. 1902J. Milne Epist. Atkins vii. 131 Often..I have heard fellows say, ‘I know I am going to kop out,’ and sure enough they have. 1905Daily Chron. 19 Sept. 4/7 Though it tarry, it shall surely come; and when it does—as an errand boy would say—‘somebody 'll cop out’! 1909Daily Chron. 9 Apr. 6/6 When arrested he remarked, ‘I suppose I shall ‘cop’ it for this.’ 1915‘Boyd Cable’ Between Lines 194 By the way 'is 'ands jerked up an' 'is 'ead jerked back when I fired, I fancy 'e copped it right enough. 1927Blackw. Mag. July 83/1 Half of the beggars had copped it for good and all. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise vii. 120 I'm really fearfully sorry you copped that packet that was meant for me. 1934E. Blunden in Challenge to Death 337 As the thing began It ended; only, as you see, we boys Have copped unlucky. 1941A. Christie N or M? xii. 159 Yes, it looked bad, it did. Looked as though he might have copped one. 1967Listener 22 June 809/2, I saw an irate African driver jump off his bus and tell the passengers that it had ‘copped it’.
d. [cf. cop n.6] to cop (a person) one: to deal (someone) a blow. slang.
1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 3 The Gent. copped 'im one fair under the chin, an' dahn 'e goes. 1935Wodehouse Blandings Castle vi. 122, I copped 'im on the shin wiv a stone.
e. to cop out: to escape; to stop (work, etc.); to drop out from society; also, to give up an attempt, to evade a responsibility (chiefly N. Amer.). slang.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §498/3 Flee; escape, cop,..cop (an) out. 1961Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia p. xiv, Cop, to; — out,..to give up Bohemian values, to ‘sell out to squares’. 1967Jazz Monthly Dec. 19/2 One might expect him to be playing from memory to some extent, taking it easy and copping out when he can. 1968–70Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 30, 31 Cop out,..to quit, give up without trying. 1969It 13–28 June 1 After Photoprinters..copped out..It..appeared in a limited edition. 1970Win 1 Jan. 25/3 The intellectuals, so many of whom were kept from copping out by Bob's continuing commitment in the face of death. 1973Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 30 Dec. 20/5 One gets the feeling that Jewison's use of modern tanks..and frenetic dance routines gives him some sort of an excuse to cop out if he needed to do so. 1978S. Brill Teamsters x. 396 Did Gibbons cop out where a stronger man would have acted? 1986New Statesman 4 July 3/3 But Peacock and Co...could hardly cop out at that early stage and announce that advertising on the BBC would be a bad thing.
So ˈcop-out, a flight, an escape; a cowardly compromise or evasion; a retreat from reality. Also, a person who drops out from society.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §498/1 Flight; escape, cop-out. 1967Boston Sunday Herald (Suppl.) 14 May 2/1, I know it's..convenient for those of us who were not raised by their parents to refer to their childhood as lonely, and blame their adult behavior on that. I think it's self-pity and a cop-out. 1967Guardian 24 Oct. 6/2 Many of the London hippies are not only ‘drop-outs’ (people who have rejected any form of social or political activism) but ‘cop-outs’—people who equate mind erasure with the dissolution of social problems. 1969Win 15 May 9/1 Isn't it a cop-out to secede from New York State but remain a part of the nation?
▸ slang. a. trans. U.S. (now chiefly in African-American usage). To gain the affection or favour of (a person, esp. a woman), to seduce; (also) to have a sexual or romantic encounter with. Also with off.
1899G. Ade Doc' Horne xviii. 211 He'd give up his coin an' copped the princess. 1912A. H. Lewis Apaches of N.Y. ii. 41 A goil would be a mutt..to stay cocked up at home. An' yet a goil couldn't go chasin' around be her lonesome. Alma..you must cop off another steady. 1925T. Boyd Points of Honor v. 139 An' boy, did I cop her off! Well, did I! 1935J. T. Farrell Judgment Day i. i. 5 He might have made girls from all over the country... And if he had, the fellows would..say.., I see where Studs Lonigan copped off a bim whose old man is lousy with dough. 1965in W. King Black Anthol. 302 It don't take too long to cop Gloria.
b. intr. Brit. (a) to cop on (to or with) (now rare): to (seek to) associate with, as a companion. (b) to cop off (with): to (succeed in) becoming acquainted or friendly (esp. amorously); (also) to have a sexual encounter. Cf. to get off v. 11 at get v. Phrasal verbs 2.
1940N. & Q. 3 Aug. 79/1 Cop on, to associate one's self with, to make overtures with a view to companionship. ‘You needn't try to cop on.’ ‘I saw you copping on to her in the lane.’ Or ‘cop on with.’ Most often it had a slightly derogatory sense. 1986Q Oct. 96/3 Then he cops off with Alda's girlfriend. 2000TV Quick (Central Region) 13–19 May 7/2 She feels so alone when she sees people her own age copping off.
c. intr. U.S. (chiefly in African-American usage). To engage in sexual or amorous activities of any nature, from kissing to sexual intercourse; to have a sexual encounter.
1965H. Huncke Huncke's Jrnl. 13 He constantly speaks of the size and shape of everybody's ass and will exclaim in positive terms—‘Man—I got to cop’ each time he sees an ass which especially excites him. 1976R. E. Chinn Dig Nigger Up 130 For over ten years Leo had tried..to bed Mary without paying for it... ‘I might not cop the next time I see her, but believe me I'm going to cop and I ain't going to pay!’
▸ to cop a feel: to fondle someone in a sexual manner, esp. furtively.
1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 25/2 Cop a feel, a presumptuous man, who will not let his hands behave when with an attractive girl. 1937M. Levin Old Bunch 46 Boy, I'd like to cop a feel off that little one. 1943M. Shulman Barefoot Boy with Cheek 77 ‘Sure you don't want to cop a feel?’ she said suspiciously. 1972G. Lukas et al. Amer. Graffiti (film script) 14 Couldn't even cop a feel. 1988J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iv. 39 Danny was grateful she wasn't around to make goo-goo eyes and poke his biceps, copping feels while the watch sergeant chuckled. 2002Independent (Electronic ed.) 11 June 19 Pretending to be a dear old boy, he gets close enough to the court ladies to cop a feel.
▸ colloq. (chiefly Irish English). to cop on. a. a. intr. Also to cop on to oneself. To start behaving more sensibly or rationally; to take a more realistic attitude. Freq. in imper. Cf. to get a grip on (oneself) at grip n.1 2a.
1961J. B. Keane Many Young Men of Twenty iii. 45 I've been a mouse for thirty years. But this morning I copped on to myself. 1985T. Murphy Conversat. on Homecoming in Plays (1993) 2 85 So cop on. 2001J. Murphy Kings of Kilburn High Road in Two Plays ii. 47 Would yis ever stop all that shite talk about home an' cop on to yourselves?
b. trans. (refl.) in the same sense.
1992USA go Home in soc.culture.celtic (Usenet newsgroup) 7 May Cop yourself on. 2006Irish Independent (Nexis) 1 May In a properly functioning society, this woman would have been told, simply, to cop herself on and get over it.
b. intr. To realize or notice what is happening; to catch on to. Cf. to cotton on at cotton v.1 8(b).
1989Real Mal Evans will never stand up in Court in rec.music.beatles (Usenet newsgroup) 6 Nov. A brilliant stroke on his part, and apparantly [sic] nobody copped on to the Sardinia bit! 1990B. Roche Poor Beast in Rain in Wexford Trilogy (1992) 93 How many times did we knock off this place..before they copped on? 2006Mirror (Ulster ed.) (Nexis) 19 July 8 Sources in the area revealed the con was uncovered when a cabbie copped on to what was happening.
▪ XII. cop, v.4 dial.|kɒp|
[app. f. cop n.2; but cf. cap v.1 4.]
1. trans. To top, surpass; to excel, out-do.
1879in G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk.
2. intr. To be saucy. Cf. copped 4 b.
1869in Lanc. Gloss.
▪ XIII. cop
var. of coop, a call to animals. |