FBI

→ Arabic: إِف بِي أَي (ʔif bī ʔay)

→ Bulgarian: ФБР (FBR)

→ Dutch: FBI

→ French: FBI

→ Galician: FBI

desc

→ Hindi: एफ़ बी आई (ef bī āī)

→ Hindi: एफ़ बी आई (ef bī āī)

→ Indonesian: FBI

→ Japanese: エフ・ビー・アイ

→ Japanese: エフ・ビー・アイ

→ Marathi: एफ्.बी.आय्. (eph.bī.āy.)

→ Persian: افبیآی

→ Portuguese: FBI

→ Romanian: FBI

→ Russian: ФБР (FBR)

→ Thai: เอฟบีไอ

→ Thai: เอฟบีไอ

The FBI began publishing national quarterly crime reports last year, but has not done so for the first two quarters of 2021, stating that they require at least 60% of agencies to submit NIBRS data in order to publish quarterly data.

2021 September 27, Priya Krishnakumar, “Murders rose sharply in 2020 but data is lacking across much of the country”, in CNN:

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation#English

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(Australia, weather, firefighting) fire behaviour index


DOS

(emergency services) Initialism of death on scene.


alphabet

From Middle English alphabete, borrowed from Late Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), from ἄλφα (álpha) and βῆτα (bêta), the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, Α (A) and Β (B), lowercase forms α and β. The Greek names derived from aleph, the name of the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (ʾ, “ox”) and beth, the name of the letter 𐤁 (b, “house”), so called because they were pictograms of those objects, having developed from the Egyptian hieroglyphs F1 (𓃾) and pr (𓉐).
 Doublet of alfabeto.

(Internet slang, politics) An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.


German

en-noun

German (countable and uncountable, plural Germans)

/ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/

From Latin Germānus, Germānī (“the peoples of Germānia”), as distinct from Gauls (in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus), and of uncertain ultimate origin (possibly Celtic/Gaulish).
Not related to german (“closely related”) or germane (from the Latin adjective germānus, through Old French).
Attested since at least 1520. Replaced the older terms Almain and Dutch (from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz) in English. Besides cognates of German, Almain, and Dutch, two other categories of words for the Germans in other languages are cognates of Saxon and descendants of Proto-Slavic *němьcь; see those entries for more.
The surname is generally from the noun, though sometimes confused with Herman, Hermann under Russian influence. As a German surname, Americanized from Germann. Compare Germán, Germain, Jerman.

There are some 32 different terms for prison officers, from the humorously affectionate kanga(rhyming slang:kangaroo = screw) and the variants Scooby-Doo and Dr. Who via the mildly confrontational German (as if still the enemy over 50 years after World War II!) to the outright abuse of shit-parcel.

1996, Angela Devlin, Prison Patter, Waterside Press, →ISBN:


book

en-verb

book (third-person singular simple present books, present participle booking, simple past and past participle booked)

books (present singular third-person)
booking (participle present)
booked (participle past)
booked (past)

From Middle English booken, boken, from Old English bōcian, ġebōcian, from the noun (see above).

The police booked him for driving too fast.

(law enforcement, transitive) To record the name and other details of a suspected offender and the offence for later judicial action.


company

en-noun

company (countable and uncountable, plural companies)

→ Hindi: कंपनी (kampnī)

desc

→ Hokkien: 公班衙 (kong-pan-gêe / kong-pan-gê)

→ Malay: kompeni

→ Scottish Gaelic: companaidh

→ Swahili: kampuni

From Middle English companye (“a team; companionship”), from Old French compaignie (“companionship”) (Modern French: compagnie), possibly from Late Latin *compania, but this word is not attested. Old French compaignie is equivalent to Old French compaignon (Modern French: compagnon) + -ie. More at companion.
Displaced native Old English werod, gefer, getæl, and hired.

inh

who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl

you don't dip your pen in company ink

don't fish off the company dock, you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell, you don't fish off the company pier

As he had worked for the CIA for over 30 years, he would soon take retirement from the company.

A team; a group of people who work together professionally.

(espionage, informal) An intelligence service.


SARS

Special Anti-Robbery Squad
w:Special Anti-Robbery Squad

(Nigeria, law enforcement) Initialism of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a Nigerian police unit known for police brutality and corruption


deuce

From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo. The word was used by Ford to describe a model of car they made in 1932 due to it being a two-seater.

(Canada, US, slang) A piece of excrement; number two.

The number two.
A piece of excrement; number two.

Bisexual male, 28, doing a deuce in a segregated housing unit due to positive HIV test result, seeks correspondence from both genders.

1988 December 25, Eric Peterson, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 14:

(Canada, slang) A two-year prison sentence.

The number two.
A two-year prison sentence.


prisoner of war

en-noun

prisoner of war (plural prisoners of war)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-PerfectSoundWhatever-prisoner of war.wav

Calque of French prisonnier de guerre, prisonier de guerre (obsolete).

As a prisoner of war, he was interrogated by his enemy captors.

A combatant or soldier who is captured by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.

rob lufte

combatant or soldier captured by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict


quarantine

quarantine (countable and uncountable, plural quarantines)

Cuban Missile Crisis
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Louis IX of France
quarantine

From Medieval Latin quarentena and quarentīna (“40-day period, Lent”) via Middle English quarentine, Norman quarenteine, French quarenteine, and Italian quarantina, via proposed Late Latin *quaranta + -ēna (forming distributive adjectives), from Latin quadrāgintā (“four tens, 40”). Doublet of carene and quadragene.
In reference to French politics, calque of French quarantaine after edicts of Louis IX. In reference to a severance of political relations, popularized by the Roosevelt administration's 1937 approach to the Axis powers and the later Kennedy administration's 1962 approach to Cuba during the missile crisis.

kwarantyn

(figurative) any rigorously enforced isolation

(historical) The 40-day period of isolation required after 1448 at Venice's lazaret to avoid renewed outbreaks of the bubonic plague and identical policies in other locations.

They bring wood, millet, rye, barley, and a little wheat to the quarantine to barter with the Cossaks for salt.

A place where such isolation is enforced, a lazaret.


quarantine

By yonde ys a wyldernys of quarentyne,
Wher Cryst wyth fastyng hys body dyd pyne;
In that holy place, as we rede,
The deuyl wold had of stonys bred.

c. 1470, William Wey, The Itineraries, page 14:

(Christianity, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of Quarantine: the Mount of Temptation where Jesus Christ supposedly fasted for 40 days, Jebel Quruntul near Jericho.


handcuffs

1775, from hand + cuff (“end of shirtsleeve”).
Possibly influenced by Old English handcops, from hand + cops (“fetter, chains”), but due to lack of continuity (centuries between Old English and modern term), generally analyzed as a re-invention.

Security is tight inside and outside the building, guarded by a bewildering collection of soldiers, policemen and gendarmes. Relatives watch as prisoners in handcuffs and leg irons shuffle past.

2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

A fastening consisting of two metal rings, designed to go around a person's wrists, and connected by a chain or hinge.


DC

DC (countable and uncountable, plural DCs)

detective constable
detective constable#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of detective constable, a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.


AC

assistant commissioner
assistant commissioner#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of assistant commissioner, a police rank used in London's Metropolitan Police.


hole

→ Japanese: ホール (hōru)

→ Korean: 홀 (hol)

Sranan Tongo: olo

Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow.

отвор

orifice (see anus etc. for specific body cavities)

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know one's head from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

In late December a Washington State prisoner was involved in a scuffle with a guard who was trying to take him into the hole.

1988 April 2, Ed Mead, “AIDS hysteria sweeps prison guards' union”, in Gay Community News, page 9:

Disciplinary actions can range from a mere write up to serious time in the hole.

2011, Ahmariah Jackson, IAtomic Seven, Locked Up but Not Locked Down:

Solitary confinement
solitary confinement

(informal, with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.


CS

chief superintendent
w:chief superintendent

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of chief superintendent.


CI

en-noun

CI (countable and uncountable, plural CIs)

(law enforcement) Initialism of chief inspector, a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.

confidential informant
confidential informant#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of confidential informant.


CO

corrections officer
corrections officer#English

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of corrections officer.

correctional officer
correctional officer#English

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of correctional officer.


SP

SP (countable and uncountable, plural SPs)

(law enforcement) Abbreviation of superintendent.


mill

Sranan Tongo: miri

→ Hindi: मिल (mil)

From Middle English mylne, mille, from Old English mylen, from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu (“mill”), from Late Latin molīna, molīnum, molīnus (“mill”), from Latin molō (“grind, mill”, verb), closely allied to Proto-Germanic *muljaną (“to crush, grind”) (see English millstone). Perhaps cognate with Milne (a surname). Doublet of moline and moulin.

cog

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

every miller draws water to his own mill

the mill cannot grind with water that is past

(World War I– World War II, US military slang) A military prison, either guardhouse or post prison.


IA

en-noun

IA (countable and uncountable, plural IAs)

internal affairs
internal affairs#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of internal affairs. (a department responsible for investigating complaints against police officers)


copper

From cop (“to take, capture, seize”) + -er (agent noun suffix).

af

One evening as I was lying down in Leicester Square / I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls

1985, Shane MacGowan (lyrics and music), “The Old Main Drag”, in Rum Sodomy & the Lash, performed by The Pogues:

(slang, law enforcement) A police officer.


SD

(law enforcement) Initialism of sheriff's department.


pen

From Middle English pen, penne (“enclosure for animals”), from Old English penn (“enclosure, fold, pen”), from Proto-Germanic *pennō, *pannijō (“pin, bolt, nail, tack”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“pointed peg, nail, edge”). Related to pin.
Sense “prison” originally figurative extension to “enclosure for persons” (1845), later influenced by penitentiary (“prison”), being analyzed as an abbreviation (1884).

der

They caught him with a stolen horse, and he wound up in the pen again.

(slang) A penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons.


bust

en-verb

bust (third-person singular simple present busts, present participle busting, simple past and past participle busted or bust)

busts (present singular third-person)
busting (participle present)
busted (participle past)
busted (past)
bust (participle past)
bust (past)

From Middle English busten, a variant of Middle English bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare German Low German basten and barsten (“to burst”). More at burst.

(transitive, slang) To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.

betrap

(slang) to catch someone in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal


bust

(slang) A police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise.


beat

en-adj

beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

more beat (comparative)
most beat (superlative)

beat poetry


apparatus

en-noun

apparatus (plural apparatuses or apparatusses or apparatus or (both rare) apparatûs or apparatūs or (hypercorrect) apparati)

apparatuses (plural)
apparatusses (plural)
apparatus (plural)
apparatûs (plural rare)
apparatūs (plural rare)
apparati (hypercorrect plural rare)

/æp.əˈɹɑː.təs/

Borrowed from Latin apparātus. Doublet of apparat.

(firefighting) A vehicle used for emergency response.


bubble

Partly imitative, also influenced by burble. Compare Middle Dutch bobbe (“bubble”) > Dutch bubbel (“bubble”), Low German bubbel (“bubble”), Danish boble (“bubble”), Swedish bubbla (“bubble”). The word was first used in its economic sense in association with the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, based on the metaphor of an inflated soap bubble bursting.

onom

imitative

Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.

1998, District of Columbia Appropriations for 1998: Hearings:

An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.


bubble

en-verb

bubble (third-person singular simple present bubbles, present participle bubbling, simple past and past participle bubbled)

bubbles (present singular third-person)
bubbling (participle present)
bubbled (participle past)
bubbled (past)

onom

imitative

Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book.

2011, Allison Amend, Adam Robinson, Cracking the SAT.: Literature Subject Test, page 126:

They bubbled her answers on Scantron tests, changed her sanitary napkins, helped her get in and out of the bathroom with a minimum of fuss.

2014, Cammie McGovern, Say What You Will:

You don’t want to go back and forth between the test booklet and your answer sheet to bubble your answers.

2019, Crash Course for the ACT, 6th Edition: Your Last-Minute Guide to Scoring High, page 15:

(transitive) To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’).


bull

en-noun

bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)

bear

investor who sells in anticipation of a fall in prices

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian βόλινθος (vólinthos, “wild bull”), Macedonian вол (vol, "ox"), Slovene vol ("ox"), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”).

cog

rozzer. See also Thesaurus:police officer


bull

From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.

A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.


down

en-adj

down (comparative more down, superlative most down)

tlb

(chiefly predicative, but see usage notes)

more down (comparative)
most down (superlative)

From Middle English doun, from Old English dūne, aphetic form of adūne, from ofdūne (“off the hill”). For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“(in/to the) valley”), i.e. "down(wards)".

noncog

We have an officer down outside the suspect's house.

There are three soldiers down and one walking wounded.

(not comparable, military, law enforcement, slang, of a person) Wounded and unable to move normally, or killed.


sting

sting a sting (canonical)
stings (plural)

From Middle English stynge, sting, stenge, from Old English sting, stinċġ (“a sting, stab, thrust made with a pointed instrument; the wound made by a stab or sting”), from Proto-Germanic *stangiz.

The criminal gang was caught after a successful sting.

Shepard: I'm taking you in, Jax.
Turian Bodyguard: It's a sting. Bastard set us up.
Jax: What the hell are you playing at?

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

(law enforcement) A police operation in which the police pretend to engage in criminal activity in order to catch a criminal.


boot

Solombala English: бучь (bučʹ)

→ Maltese: buz

→ Russian: бутса (butsa)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: бу́це

Latin script: búce

→ Swahili: buti

From Middle English boote, bote (“shoe”), from Old French bote (“a high, thick shoe”). Of obscure origin, but probably related to Old French bot (“club-foot”), bot (“fat, short, blunt”), from Old Frankish *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz, *butaz (“cut off, short, numb, blunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewt-, *bʰewd- (“to strike, push, shock”); if so, a doublet of butt. Compare Old Norse butt (“stump”), Low German butt (“blunt, plump”), Old English bytt (“small piece of land”), buttuc (“end”). More at buttock and debut.

cog

couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel

Did you even go to OCS, you complete and utter boot!?

2020 November 2, JoshScorcher, “Top Ten Hated Characters We're Supposed to Like”, in YouTube:

(US, military, law enforcement, slang) A recently arrived recruit; a rookie.


cuckoo

en-verb

cuckoo (third-person singular simple present cuckoos, present participle cuckooing, simple past and past participle cuckooed)

cuckoos (present singular third-person)
cuckooing (participle present)
cuckooed (participle past)
cuckooed (past)

From Middle English cokkou, kokkow, cukkuk, gokkouȝ, probably from Old French cocu, coquu, cucu (whence French coucou); ultimately onomatopoeic of the song of the male Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), perhaps via Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”). Compare dialectal English gowkoo (“cuckoo”). Displaced Middle English gnokken (“cuckoo”) and native Middle English yeke, ȝek (from Old English ġēac (“cuckoo”)), see English gowk.

She'll have been cuckooed. That'll be the Knezevics. They can't launder fast enough, so what do you do with it? Where do you put it? You hide it in somebody else's place; somebody who han't got a clue what's going on and couldn't do a fat lot about it if they did.

2023, Sally Wainwright, 26:06 from the start, in Happy Valley, season 3, episode 2, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire):

(UK, law enforcement) To take over the home of a vulnerable person for the purposes of carrying out organized crime in a concealed way.


collar

collar (third-person singular simple present collars, present participle collaring, simple past and past participle collared)

collars (present singular third-person)
collaring (participle present)
collared (participle past)
collared (past)

From Middle English coler, borrowed from Old French coler (Modern French collier), from Late Latin collāre, from Latin collāris, from collum (“neck”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 (hals, “neck”), Old English heals (“neck”). Compare Spanish cuello (“neck”). More at halse.

(law enforcement, transitive) To arrest.


spin

spin (third-person singular simple present spins, present participle spinning, simple past spun or (uncommon) span or (nonstandard) spinned, past participle spun or (nonstandard) spinned)

spins (present singular third-person)
spinning (participle present)
spun (past)
span (past uncommon)
spinned (nonstandard past)
spun (participle past)
spinned (nonstandard participle past)

From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Compare Low German spinnen, Dutch spinnen, German spinnen, Danish spinde, Swedish spinna.

But then again, unless someone struck lucky in those first few hours, there weren't even enough detectives to spin a drum [house].

(UK, law enforcement, slang, transitive) To search rapidly.


make

make (third-person singular simple present makes, present participle making, simple past and past participle made or (dialectal or obsolete) maked)

makes (present singular third-person)
making (participle present)
made (participle past)
made (past)
maked (dialectal obsolete participle past)
maked (dialectal obsolete past)
make (infinitive)

From Middle English maken, from Old English macian (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-West Germanic *makōn (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ǵ- (“to knead, mix, make”).
Related to match.
cognates
* Scots mak (“to make”)
* Saterland Frisian moakje (“to make”)
* West Frisian meitsje (“to make”)
* Dutch maken (“to make”)
* Dutch Low Saxon maken (“to make”)
* German Low German maken (“to make”)
* German machen (“to make, do”)
* Danish mage (“to make, arrange (in a certain way)”)
* Latin mācerō, macer
* Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō)

elér

with definite conjugation and a subordinate clause

don't get your honey where you make your money

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home

it takes a lot of living to make a house a home

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs

you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

I caught sight of him two or three times and then made him turning north into Laurel Canyon Drive.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 33:

Linus Caldwell: Well, she just made Danny and Yen, which means in the next 48 hours the three o' your pictures are gonna be in every police station in Europe.

2004, George Nolfi et al., Ocean's Twelve, Warner Bros. Pictures, 0:50:30

David Sinclair: (walking) Almost at Seventh; I should have a visual any second now. (rounds a corner, almost collides into Kaleed Asan) Damn, that was close.
Don Eppes: David, he make you?
David Sinclair: No, I don't think so.

2007 May 4, Andrew Dettmann et al., "Under Pressure", episode 3-22 of Numb3rs, 00:01:16

(transitive, US slang, crime, law enforcement) To recognise, identify, spot.


tit

From Middle English tit, titte, tette, from Old English tit, titt, from Proto-West Germanic *titt, from Proto-Germanic *tittaz (“teat; nipple; breast”), of expressive origin.
Perhaps related to an original meaning “to suck”; compare Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-y-. Doublet of teat, which was borrowed from Old French.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tit, Dutch tiet, dialectal Dutch tet, German Zitze, Titte, Hunsrik Ditz, Yiddish ציצע (tsitse).

onomatopoeic

expressive

I have enjoyed taking to my writing bureau and writing about poverty, benefit reform and the coalition government in the manner of a shit Dickens, or Orwell, but with tits.

2012, Caitlin Moran, Moranthology, Ebury Press, published 2012, page 13:

Sanch tossed his head back, threw open his shirt, cupped his beanbag-shaped male breasts and jiggled them at us. Ford and I were laughing but Kat said, "I think they're the most beautiful tits."

Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big tits.

1987, “A Conflict of Interest”, in Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, directors, Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 4, spoken by Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds), BBC2:

(slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A person's breast or nipple.

Look at that tit driving on the wrong side of the road!

I know a lot of tits, Guv'nor. But I don't know any quite as fucking stupid as these two.

2000, Guy Ritchie, Snatch (motion picture), spoken by Errol (Andy Beckwith):

“What did you say to the cops?”
“I told them everything about the smuggling ring.”
“Why the fuck did you do that?”
“They were nice to me.”
“They’re always nice to people they want to get information from, you dumb tit.”

2002, Dick Plamondon, Have You Ever Been Screwed, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 234:

John Watson (to Sherlock Holmes): It's Lestrade. Says they're all coming over here right now. Queuing up to slap on the handcuffs, every single officer you ever made feel like a tit. Which is a lot of people.

2012 January 15, Stephen Thompson, "The Reichenbach Fall", episode 2-3 of Sherlock, 00:52:46-00:52:55

“I asked Nandor and Colin Robinson to come with me on the first day because I didn't want the class to look too empty. But now I cannot get those two tits to leave.”

2023 August 17, Jeremy Levick & Rajat Suresh, “Hybrid Creatures” (5:12 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 7, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

(UK, Ireland, derogatory, slang) An idiot; a fool.

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A police officer; a "tithead".


tit

Probably of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; found earliest in titling and titmouse; compare Faroese títlingur, dialectal Norwegian titling (“small stockfish”).
Wikispecies

A chickadee; a small passerine bird of the genus Parus or the family Paridae, common in the Northern Hemisphere.

Any of various other small passerine birds.


cover

en-verb

cover (third-person singular simple present covers, present participle covering, simple past and past participle covered)

covers (present singular third-person)
covering (participle present)
covered (participle past)
covered (past)

→ German: covern

→ Danish: lave en cover

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Old Latin com
Latin cum
Latin con-
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-?
Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi
Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Latin operiō
Latin cooperiō
Old French covrirbor.
Middle English coveren
English cover
From Middle English coveren, borrowed from Old French covrir, cueuvrir (modern French couvrir), from Late Latin coperire, from Latin cooperiō (“I cover completely”), from co- (intensive prefix) + operiō (“I close, cover”). Displaced native Middle English thecchen and bethecchen (“to cover”) (from Old English þeccan, beþeccan (“to cover”)), Middle English helen, (over)helen, (for)helen (“to cover, conceal”) (from Old English helan (“to conceal, cover, hide”)), Middle English wrien, (be)wreon (“to cover”) (from Old English (be)wrēon (“to cover”)), Middle English hodren, hothren (“to cover up”) (from Low German hudren (“to cover up”)).
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original sense of the verb and noun cover was “hide from view” as in its cognate covert. Except in the limited sense of “cover again”, the word recover is unrelated and is cognate with recuperate. Cognate with Spanish cubrir (“to cover”).

cog

(military, law enforcement, transitive) To protect using an aimed firearm and the threat of firing; or to protect using continuous, heaving fire at or in the direction of the enemy so as to force the enemy to remain in cover; or to threaten using an aimed firearm.


pull

en-verb

pull (third-person singular simple present pulls, present participle pulling, simple past and past participle pulled)

pulls (present singular third-person)
pulling (participle present)
pulled (participle past)
pulled (past)

push

antonym(s) of “apply force to (something) so it comes towards one”

-ʊl (accents with foot–goose merger or full–fool merger)

Verb from Middle English pullen, from Old English pullian (“to pull, draw, tug, pluck off”), of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to West Frisian pûlje (“to shell, husk”), Middle Dutch pullen (“to drink”), Middle Dutch polen (“to peel, strip”), Low German pulen (“to pick, pluck, pull, tear, strip off husks”), Icelandic púla (“to work hard, beat”).
Noun from Middle English pul, pull, pulle, from the verb pullen (“to pull”).

cog

it's not the whistle that pulls the train

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

The state trooper pulled me for going 60 in a 55 zone.

(transitive, law enforcement) To pull over (a driver or vehicle); to detain for a traffic stop.


box

en-noun

box (plural boxes or (nonstandard, computing, humorous) boxen)

boxes (plural)
boxen (humorous nonstandard plural)

Tok Pisin: bokis

→ Afrikaans: boks

→ Bengali: বাক্স (bakśo)

→ Bulgarian: бокс (boks)

→ Crimean Tatar: boks

→ Danish: boks

→ Dutch: box m

→ Faroese: boks

→ French: box m

→ German: Box f

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: बकस m (bakas), बक्सा m (baksā)

Urdu: بکس m (baks, bakas)

→ Icelandic: box n

→ Indonesian: boks

→ Irish: bosca m

→ Italian: box m

→ Japanese: ボックス (bokkusu)

→ Korean: 박스 (bakseu)

→ Maori: pāka

→ Marwari: बकस (baks, bakas)

→ Nepali: बाकस (bākas)

→ Norman: bosc m

→ Norwegian: boks m

→ Pashto: بکس (baks)

→ Persian: باکس (bâks)

→ Polish: boks m

→ Portuguese: box m

→ Russian: бокс m (boks)

→ Scottish Gaelic: bogsa m, bocsa

→ Spanish: box m

→ Swedish: box c

→ Welsh: bocs

Etymology tree
Ancient Greek πῠ́ξος (pŭ́xos)
Ancient Greek -ις (-is)
Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís)bor.
Late Latin buxisbor.
Proto-West Germanic *buhsā
Old English box
Middle English box
English box
From Middle English box (“container, box, cup”), from Old English box (“box, case”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhsā (“box”) from Late Latin buxis (“box”), Latin pyxis (“small box for medicines or toiletries”), of uncertain origin; compare Ancient Greek πύξος (púxos, “box or tablet made of boxwood; box; cylinder”) and Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís, “box or tablet made of boxwood; box; cylinder”). Doublet of piseog, pyx, and pyxis.
Cognate with Middle Dutch bosse, busse (“jar; tin; round box”) (modern Dutch bos (“wood, forest”), bus (“container, box; bushing of a wheel”)), Old High German buhsa (Middle High German buhse, bühse, modern German Büchse (“box; can”)), Swedish hjulbössa (“wheel-box”).
The humorous plural form boxen is from box + -en, by analogy with oxen.

rasia

compartment or receptacle for receiving items

ramme

rectangular border around an image, text, etc.

ruutu

small area on a document for a tick mark

tofu

empty box displayed by some computer systems in place of a character not supported by available fonts

“I dare say the sheriff, or the mayor and corporation, or some of those sort of people, would give him money enough, for the use of it, to run him up a mighty pretty neat little box somewhere near Richmond.”

1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.vi.9:

Suburban villas, highway-ſide retreats, / That dread th' encroachment of our growing ſtreets, / Tight boxes, neatly ſaſh'd, and in a blaze / With all a July ſun's collected rays, / Delight the citizen, who gaſping there, / Breathes clouds of duſt and calls it country air.

1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 282:

What can a man know of a country or its people, who, merely passes through the former in a stage coach? […] Such were the arguments by which I induced myself to undertake a pedestrian trip to join my friend at his shooting-box, some hundred and fifty miles from Carlisle, where I had arrived from London; business compelling me to take that route.

[1840?], [John Mackay] Wilson, “The Runaway”, in Wilson’s Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative Tales of the Borders, and of Scotland: […], volume VI, number 273, Manchester: Published by James Ainsworth, […]; London: E. T. Brain & Co., […]; New York, N.Y.: R. T. Shannon, →OCLC, page 97:

Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.


PS

en-noun

PS (countable and uncountable, plural PSes or PSs)

(law enforcement, Commonwealth) Initialism of police sergeant, a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.


EOD

(military, law enforcement) Initialism of explosive ordnance disposal.


PPV

PPV (countable and uncountable, plural PPVs)

positive pressure ventilation
positive pressure ventilation#English

(medicine, firefighting) Abbreviation of positive pressure ventilation.

(countable, by extension) A positive pressure ventilation machine, a PPV device

HFPPV

high frequency positive pressure ventilation

IPPV

intermittent positive pressure ventilation

NPPV

noninvasive positive pressure ventilation

NiPPV

non-invasive positive pressure ventilation

(law enforcement) Abbreviation of police pursuit vehicle.


nick

The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established.
The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.

unknown

further etymology is unknown

cog

He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.

He’s just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.

I recall too that the chats in the back of the [police] van weren't too bad as they dispatched me to the nick.

2014, Russell Brand, “I am an Anarchist-a”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 81:

Poor Billy, he got seven years and he died in the nick in Liverpool in January 1958. Tragedy, he was such a good man, the best. He had a big funeral back in Clerkenwell. Eva went to it. I was in the nick down south at the time.

2019 June 6, Frankie Fraser, James Morton, Mad Frank's Diary: The Confessions of Britain’s Most Notorious Villain, Random House, →ISBN:

“They say he's a friend of Stuart's who he met in the nick down south. No one in Brisbane knows him.” “Not that anyone would admit to it anyway.”

2021 March 23, William Stokes, The Riddle Exposed:: The Whiskey Firebombing's Link to the McCulkin Family Murders, Interactive Publications, →ISBN, page 80:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) A police station or prison.


nick

en-verb

nick (third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

nicks (present singular third-person)
nicking (participle present)
nicked (participle past)
nicked (past)

unknown

further etymology is unknown

The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into.

Flick knives were pulled on us, and the group demanded we give them all our money, and passports and everything else we had. [...] They [the police] had nicked the knife gang, (who had stayed there, beating the shit out of Nick), and found our passports.

2012, T. Appleby, “Die in Dunkirk or Somewhere in France”, in Life in the Harsh Lane: The Nine Lives, Mishaps, and Adventures of a No-body, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 113:

[...] I was always getting nicked when I was a junkie, so I've had my fair share of skirmishes with the law.

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) To arrest.


PC

en-noun

PC (countable and uncountable, plural PCs)

(law enforcement) Initialism of police constable, a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.

previous conviction
previous conviction#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of previous conviction.


PC

Philippine Constabulary
w:Philippine Constabulary

(Philippines, law enforcement, historical) Initialism of Philippine Constabulary.


fire engine

A fire aboard TfW 175007, working a Holyhead-Cardiff Central service on February 8, closed the A483 road while five fire engines from Wrexham, Deeside, and Cheshire attended the scene.

2023 March 22, “Network News: Class 175s withdrawn for safety checks after fires”, in RAIL, number 979, page 13:

(firefighting, vehicles) A vehicle used by firefighters to pump water to fight a fire. Typically, a fire engine carries a supply of water and has the ability to connect to an external water supply.


screw

From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scrūva ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word.
more on the etymology of screw
Old French escroue (whence Medieval Latin scrofa (“nut, screwhole”)), is believed to be an adaptation of Latin scrōfa (“sow, female pig”); but this development is not found in other Romance languages. (For change in meaning, compare also Spanish puerca, Portuguese porca, both ‘sow; screw nut’, and is based on the fact that a boar's penis has a screw-like tip, making the sow's vulva equivalent to a screw nut by analogy).
Old Dutch *scrūva possibly derives from Proto-Germanic *skrūbō (“screw”), from *skru- (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keru-, *(s)ker- (“to cut”), and is related to German Schraube (“screw”), Low German schruve, schruwe (“screw”), Dutch schroef (“screw”), West Frisian skroef (“screw”), Danish skrue (“screw”), Swedish skruv (“screw, peg”), Icelandic skrúfa (“screw”).
Compare also Occitan escrofa (“screw nut”), Calabrese scrufina (“screw nut”), which may be borrowings of the Old French word, or parallel developments.

gloss

"screw"; whence Middle Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="dum">schruyve</i> (“screw”)

cog

the first turn of the screw pays all debts

A device that has a helical function.
An Archimedes screw.

If I don't go back to my boy friend he'll be as mad as hell. He's a sulky brute, but Christ, he's a good screw.

1944, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 5, in The Razor’s Edge […], 1st American edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co., →OCLC, section ii, page 211:

"Swear it!" Kathleen screamed. "Let her know that she's just another screw. Because, darling, that's all you are. So go on, tell her!"

1990, Susan Lewis, Stolen Beginnings, HarperPaperbacks, published 1992, →ISBN, page 122:

She was just a girl, like any of the girls he had had so easily, just another screw.

1993, William Gill, Fortune's Child, HarperCollins Canada, published 1994, →ISBN, page 42:

Mary was Eli's favorite screw because she was clean, pretty, a good mother, funny, and alway was able to make herself available for their twice a week fucks as easily as he was.

2009, Sam Moffie, The Book of Eli, Mill City Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 6:

(vulgar, slang) A casual sexual partner.


Mountie

(Canada, informal, law enforcement) A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

(Canada, informal, historical, law enforcement) A member of the North West Mounted Police

(US, informal, law enforcement) A law officer, particularly one patrolling rural highways.


disincarcerate

en-verb

disincarcerate (third-person singular simple present disincarcerates, present participle disincarcerating, simple past and past participle disincarcerated)

disincarcerates (present singular third-person)
disincarcerating (participle present)
disincarcerated (participle past)
disincarcerated (past)

(obsolete, transitive) To liberate from prison.


shanghai

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied or shanghai'd)

shanghais (present singular third-person)
shanghaiing (participle present)
shanghaied (participle past)
shanghaied (past)
shanghai'd (participle past)
shanghai'd (past)

1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.

強迫 /强迫

to force or trick into work, especially joining a ship

(transitive) To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly

(US law enforcement slang) To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.


incarcerate

incarcerate (third-person singular simple present incarcerates, present participle incarcerating, simple past and past participle incarcerated)

incarcerates (present singular third-person)
incarcerating (participle present)
incarcerated (participle past)
incarcerated (past)

/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/

/ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/

From Medieval Latin incarcerātus, past participle of incarcerō (“to imprison”), from Latin in- (“in”) + carcer (“a prison”), meaning "put behind lines (bars)" – Latin root is of a lattice or grid. Related to cancel (“cross out with lines”) and chancel (“area behind a lattice”). See also carcerate and cancer.

Tolokonnikova has also been an effective public speaker even while incarcerated, but she has spoken out on politics and freedom in general rather than prisoners’ rights.

2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, “Life in a Russian Prison”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-24:

(chiefly US) To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.


police officer

A peace officer who is a member of a police force.


firefighter

From fire + fighter. Created as a gender-neutral term for fireman and firewoman.

(firefighting) A person who has been trained to put out fires.


shadow

en-noun

shadow (countable and uncountable, plural shadows)

From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe, oblique form of sċeadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shade, shadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“darkness”).
Cognates:
Cognate with Scots scaddow, schaddow (“shadow”), Saterland Frisian Skaad (“shade, shadow”), Dutch schaduw (“shadow”), German Schatten (“shadow, shade”), Norwegian skodde (“fog, mist”), Irish scáth (“shadow”), Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, “darkness, gloom”) (whence English scoto-).

cog

(UK, law enforcement) A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer.


panda

→ Malay: panda

→ Japanese: パンダ (panda)

→ Korean: 판다 (panda)

→ Tagalog: panda

→ Thai: แพนด้า (pɛn-dâa)

Borrowed from French panda, of unclear ultimate origin but probably from the second element of nigálya-pónya, a local name for the red panda recorded in Nepal and Sikkim by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 or 1801 – 1894), an ethnologist, naturalist and the British Resident of Nepal, possibly from Nepali निँगाले (nĩgāle, “relating to a certain species of bamboo”) (the adjectival form of निँगालो (nĩgālo), a variant of निङालो (niṅālo, “Drepanostachyum intermedium, a species of bamboo”)) + a regional Tibetan name for the animal (compare regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya, “messenger”)).
Attributive uses of sense 2 (“giant panda”) generally refer to that animal’s distinctive black and white coat colour.

der

Before the confrontation, the youth sighted a police personnel carrier, two dog patrol vans, a motorway style car, at least two pandas and one unmarked police car.

1975, Darcus Howe, editor, Race Today, London: Race Today Collective, →OCLC, page 279:

(British, law enforcement, colloquial) Short for panda car (“a black-and-white police car”).


bobby

Bro I’m booky, I’ll take your food if my belly starts rumblin
They rap about bootings, they ain’t blammed nobody
Hold that properly when I bang that dotty
I put sniff in a rex, and I slang that bobby

2017, “Next Up?”, Digga D (lyrics), performed by 1011 (Digga D x Sav'O x T.Y):


IP

en-noun

IP (countable and uncountable, plural IPs)

(law enforcement) Initialism of injured party.


ghost

en-verb

ghost (third-person singular simple present ghosts, present participle ghosting, simple past and past participle ghosted)

ghosts (present singular third-person)
ghosting (participle present)
ghosted (participle past)
ghosted (past)

Inherited from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst (which was the word for “spirit” as well as “ghost”; the original sense survives in Modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”).
The ⟨h⟩ in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton's Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the ‘Holy Ghoost’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled gheest at the time. Doublet of geist.

His power base, however, is undermined by him being constantly, “ghosted”, or moved from prison to prison.

2020, Jamie Bennett, Victoria Knight, Prisoners on Prison Films, page 26:

(transitive) To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison without the prior knowledge of other inmates.


rehab

en-noun

rehab (countable and uncountable, plural rehabs)

(firefighting) A brief period of time spent away from the fire by a firefighter at a fire scene, for purposes of recuperation.


jam sandwich

(UK, Ireland, slang) (from the common UK colour scheme of white with a red reflective horizontal band) A police car.


detail

detail (countable and uncountable, plural details)

Borrowed from Middle French détail, from Old French detail, from detaillier, from de- + taillier (“to cut”).

Frequently members of the small police detail dispatched to the scene joined in.

2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 7, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order […] , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part II. The Neoliberal Order, 1970–2020:

(military, law enforcement) A temporary unit or assignment.


detail

en-verb

detail (third-person singular simple present details, present participle detailing, simple past and past participle detailed)

details (present singular third-person)
detailing (participle present)
detailed (participle past)
detailed (past)

Two years after England’s World Cup victory, Stiles was at Wembley again to help Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup final. Again Eusébio was one of his opponents, playing for Benfica, and again Stiles was detailed to keep him quiet. […]

2020 October 30, Brian Glanville, “Nobby Stiles obituary”, in The Guardian:

(transitive, military, law enforcement) To assign to a particular task.

komentaa

military: to assign to a particular task


job

→ Antillean Creole: djòb

→ French: job

→ Louisiana Creole: djòb

From the phrase jobbe of work (“piece of work”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”); or perhaps related to Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), or Middle English choppe (“piece, bargain”). More at gob, jab, chop.

der

“He was ex-job, Beavis. Detective sergeant out of County, Banbury, retired in ‘59.”

2018 February 11, Colin Dexter, Russell Lewis, 14:17 from the start, in Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by DS Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans):

But there it was on the screen: The personal details of his old colleague from Kennington station in the late nineties.[…]She’s job. We used to work together.

2018 July 24, Chris Merritt, Last Witness:A Gripping Crime Thriller You Won’t Be Able To Put Down:

“I’m job, D.S Townsend. I have to report a missing person.”

2022 February 9, Daragh Carville, Richard Clark, Furquan Akhtar, 01:33 from the start, in The Bay, season 3, episode 5, spoken by D.S Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason):

The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

w:A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

(UK, slang, law enforcement) The police as a profession, act of policing, or an individual police officer.


tap

The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”).
The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obtain (liquid) from a tap”), and then either:
* from Old English tæppa (see above) + -ian (suffix forming verbs); or
* from Proto-Germanic *tappōną, from *tappô (noun) (see above).
Verb sense 1.3.5 (“to turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round”) alludes to the abilities or resources of the card or piece having been drawn on to the point of temporary exhaustion: see verb sense 1.3.2.

rubinet

hollow device used to control the flow of a fluid — see also faucet

(communication, chiefly law enforcement)

A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications.

salakuuntelulaite

telephone tap

It is true—and undisputed—that, in the weeks between the 2016 election and Trump's inauguration, several top Obama administration officials asked the National Security Agency to reveal the identity of an American citizen overheard on phone taps speaking with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak—a request known as "unmasking."

2020 May 14, Fred Kaplan, “‘Obamagate’ wasn’t even a Scandal the First Time”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-30:

A secret interception of telephone calls or other communications using such a device; also, a recording of such a communication.

подслу́шване

secret interception of telephone calls or other communications using such a device; recording of such a communication


tap

en-verb

tap (third-person singular simple present taps, present participle tapping, simple past and past participle tapped)

taps (present singular third-person)
tapping (participle present)
tapped (participle past)
tapped (past)
tap (infinitive)

точа

to draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source)

They can’t tap the phone without a warrant.

mitchener. Why didn't you telephone? / balsquith. They tap the telephone. Every switchboard in London is in their hands, or in those of their young men.

1909, [George] Bernard Shaw, Press Cuttings: A Topical Sketch […], London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 3:

On 3 May the Government decided to take over the Telephone Exchange, which had been operated since the beginning of the war mainly by C.N.T. workers; it was alleged that it was badly run and that official calls were being tapped.

1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XI, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, pages 160–161:

"Oh, there is one thing," the Minister called after Lebel, "how did you know to tap the telephone line of Colonel Saint-Clair's private apartment?" Lebel turned in the doorway and shrugged. "I didn't," he said, "so last night I tapped all your telephones. Good day, gentlemen."

1971 August 6, Frederick Forsyth, “Anatomy of a Kill”, in The Day of the Jackal, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 347:

Ever worry about shadowy forces tapping your phone calls and listening in on your private conversations? Well, astronomers have some good news for you: it won't be aliens with their ears (or whatever auditory sensory organs they have evolved) to the speaker getting into your business—unless they've done a lot better than we have at funding radio astronomers.

2023 May 23, “Is E.T. Eavesdropping on Our Phone Calls?”, in Scientific American, New York, N.Y.: Springer Nature America, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-10-03:

(communication, chiefly law enforcement) To connect a listening and/or recording device to (a communication cable or device) in order to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications; also, to secretly listen in on and/or record (a telephone call or other communication).

подслушвам

to connect a listening and/or recording device to (a communication cable or device) in order to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications; to secretly listen in on and/or record (a telephone call or other communication)


ticket

→ Assamese: টিকট (tikot)

desc

→ Bengali: টিকিট (ṭikiṭ), টিকট (ṭikoṭ), টিকেট (ṭikeṭ) — anglicized pronunciation

→ Catalan: tiquet

→ Dhivehi: ޓިކެޓް (ṭikeṭ)

→ Dutch: ticket
→ Indonesian: tiket

→ French: ticket

→ German: Ticket

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: टिकट (ṭikaṭ)

Urdu: ٹکٹ (ṭikaṭ)

→ Irish: ticéad

→ Italian: ticket

→ Japanese: チケット (chiketto)

→ Korean: 티켓 (tiket)

→ Malay: tiket

→ Maori: tīketi

→ Marathi: तिकीट (tikīṭ)

→ Nepali: टिकट (ṭikaṭ)

→ Odia: ଟିକଟ (ṭikaṭa)

→ Portuguese: tíquete, ticket (Brazil)

→ Scottish Gaelic: tiogaid

→ Serbo-Croatian: тикет (tiket)

→ Spanish: ticket, tique, tiquete

→ Tagalog: tiket

→ Tamil: டிக்கட்டு (ṭikkaṭṭu)

→ Tamil: டிக்கட்டு (ṭikkaṭṭu)

→ Tibetan: ཏི་ཀ་སི (ti ka si, “postage stamp”)

→ Tok Pisin: tiket

From Middle English ticket, from Middle French etiquet m, estiquet m, and etiquette f, estiquette f (“a bill, note, label, ticket”), from Old French estechier, estichier, estequier (“to attach, stick”), (compare Picard estiquier (“to stick, pierce”)), from Frankish *stikkjan, *stekan (“to stick, pierce, sting”), from Proto-Germanic *stikaną, *stikōną, *staikijaną (“to be sharp, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to be sharp, to stab”). Doublet of etiquette. More at stick.

der

Ticket in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

[…] I need a ticket, Bobby.” Agnor knew a ticket meant a search warrant.

1999, Doug Most, Always in Our Hearts, page 148:


DAC

en-noun

DAC (countable and uncountable, plural DACs)

deputy assistant commissioner
deputy assistant commissioner#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of deputy assistant commissioner, a police rank used in London's Metropolitan Police.


IO

IO (countable and uncountable, plural IOs)

(Singapore, law enforcement) Initialism of investigation officer.


CRT

CRT (countable and uncountable, plural CRTs)

crisis response team
crisis response team#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of crisis response team.


carrot

carrot (countable and uncountable, plural carrots)

→ Fijian: kareti

→ Malay: karot

→ Tagalog: karot

→ Thai: แครอท (kɛɛ-rɔ̀t)

From Middle English karette and Middle French carotte, both from Latin carōta, from Ancient Greek καρωτόν (karōtón). Doublet of carotte and related to caraway. Displaced native Middle English more, from Old English more, moru (“edible root, parsnip, carrot”), related to German Möhre (“carrot”).
* Noun sense of "motivational tool" refers to carrot and stick.
* Verb sense in felt manufacture refers to the orange colour of drying furs.

Daucus carota
Daucus carota#Translingual

A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, especially the subspecies sativus in the family Apiaceae.

(UK, slang, derogatory) Someone from a rural background.

(UK, slang) A police officer from somewhere within the British Isles, but specifically outside of Greater London.

(slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person


gulag

Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”), the government agency in charge of the Soviet Union’s network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960: see GULAG.

A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.


OCPD

Lahad Datu OCPD, ACP Hamzah Ahmad said both suspects, believed to be Malaysian nationals aged 46 and 47, were detained at 2pm after police received information from the public on the drug trafficking activities at a car parking area in the town centre.

2015 March 29, “Two men detained, drugs worth RM250k seized”, in New Straits Times:

The remand for nine individuals, including two officers-in-charge of police districts (OCPD) has been extended by five days […]

2017 May 22, “Remand for Melaka cops extended over protection money racket probe”, in Malay Mail:

Home minister Hamzah Zainudin said the OCPDs would act as ground commanders to coordinate the operation, which will be conducted jointly with other enforcement agencies.

2021 July 1, “OCPDs to lead nationwide SOP crackdown”, in Free Malaysia Today:

(Malaysia, law enforcement) Initialism of Officer in Charge of the Police District.


deluge

From Middle English deluge, from Old French deluge, alteration of earlier deluvie, from Latin dīluvium, from dīluō (“wash away”). Doublet of diluvium.

deluge system, deluge gun, deluge set

2002, NAVEDTRA, Gunner's Mate 14324A
In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.

On June 8, 2005, a decomposition reaction occurred in the manifold system on a mobile acetylene trailer at Western's Bellville plant that caused the fusible plugs of five cylinders to melt, releasing the products of decomposition. The materials released did not ignite before the deluge system was manually activated, controlling the incident. The incident started when a mobile acetylene trailer, with the cylinder valves open and the manifold fully pressurized, was moved into another bay and the block valve was opened, which initiated an acetylene decomposition reaction.

2009 January 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “Earlier Western Accidents”, in Special Investigation Report: Mobile Acetylene Trailer Accidents: Fire During Unloading in Dallas, Texas, July 25, 2007; Fire During Unloading in The Woodlands, Texas, August 7, 2007; and Overturn and Fire in East New Orleans, Louisiana, October 20, 2007, archived from the original on 2022-01-20, page 18:

(firefighting) A system for flooding or drenching a space, container, or area with water in an emergency to prevent or extinguish a fire.


execution

execution (countable and uncountable, plural executions)

From Old French execution (c.1360), from Latin exsecutiō, an agent noun from exsequor (“to follow out”), from ex (“out”) + sequor (“follow”).

The mission's successful execution lifted the troops' morale.

Coordinate term: realization

uitvoering

act of executing or the state of being executed


executioner

/ˌɛksəˈkjuːʃənə/

An official person who carries out the capital punishment of a criminal.

therës

the person who carries out the execution

A hit man, especially being in some organization.


political prisoner

political prisoner (plural political prisoners)

Section 2 directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War to furnish to the judges of the circuit and district courts of the United States and of the District of Columbia, a list of the names of all persons, citizens of loyal States, held as State or political prisoners of the United States, in any for, arsenal, or other place […]

1864, Edward McPherson, The Political History of the United States of America, During the Great Rebellion, from November 6, 1860, to July 4, 1864:

The political prisoner, however, undergoes cross-examination, as do all other prisoners, at the hands of the Court on the threshold of the trial, before any evidence on the part of the prosecution or the defense has been adduced.

1920 December 9, The World Tomorrow, volume 3, page 377:

This is the first major study that examines the community of Palestinian political prisoners in the Israeli prison system.

2008, Esmail Nashif, Palestinian Political Prisoners: Identity and Community, page ii:

A person imprisoned for their political views or political activism.


runner

From Middle English rennere, rynner, urnare, equivalent to run + -er. Cognate with Old Norse rennari (“runner; messenger”). Displaced earlier Middle English runel (“runner”), from Old English rynel (“runner”; also “messenger, courier”).

махови́к

mechanical part intended to guide or aid something else to move

In our prisons you might find a condemned man working as a runner, a trusty, which is about as far from segregation as you can get.

1959, Frederick S. Baldi, My Unwelcome Guests, page 25:

(US, dated) A trusty (prisoner granted special privileges).

A leaping food fish (Elagatis pinnulatis) of Florida and the West Indies; the skipjack, shoemaker, or yellowtail.


light water

(inorganic chemistry) Water in its standard form of H₂O, containing two protium (¹H) hydrogen atoms, as opposed to heavy water (which contains deuterium, ²H).

The light water (AFFF) of the TACR was to be backed up by fluorinated protein foam instead of standard protein foam.

2001, Roger C. Mardon, An Illustrated History of Fire Engines, →ISBN, page 112:

These fires can be extinguished with water spray, alcohol-resistant foam, light water, vaporising liquids ("Halons"), carbon dioxide and dry powder.

2014, John R. Ridley, Safety at Work, →ISBN, page 504:

They can be extinguished by carbon dioxide, dry powder, water spray, light water and vaporising liquid

2015, Phil Hughes, Ed Ferrett, Introduction to Health and Safety at Work, →ISBN:

Foam formed by water and a fluorocarbon surfactant, used in firefighting because it floats on flammable liquids lighter than water.


firewoman

A female fireman (person who heats a steam engine).


drop

From Late Middle English droppe, Middle English drope (“small quantity of liquid; small or least amount of something; pendant jewel; dripping of a liquid; a shower; nasal flow, catarrh; speck, spot; blemish; disease causing spots on the skin”) [and other forms], from Old English dropa (“a drop”), from Proto-West Germanic *dropō (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to crumble, grind”).

nb...

dropan, droupe, (Northern England) droipe

afval

small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own round shape through surface tension

piisk

very small quantity of liquid, or of anything

piisk

that which hangs or resembles a liquid globule

pudotettu esine

(online gaming, video games) item dropped by a defeated enemy

langemine

decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate

afgrond

As the prisoners prepared to leave, they had seen Dan and Steve standing together in the breezeway, ‘for all the world like two condemned prisoners on the drop’.

2003, Ian Jones, Ned Kelly: A Short Life, revised edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Hachette Australia, published 2010, →ISBN:

Crook: "I'll find the killers for you, I swear." / Cop: "So why didn't you?" / Crook: "I'm scared of 'em." / Cop: "More than the drop?" / Crook: "Aye. Maybe."

2015 November 25, Benjamin Ross, Barry Langford, “All the Lost Children” (26:40 from the start), in The Frankenstein Chronicles, season 1, episode 3:

(law enforcement) A trapdoor (“hinged platform”) on a gallows; a gallows itself.

[A]ll those present shared the all-important political connections required to get a ticket to the execution. News reporters, doctors, and members of the juries had prime spots right by the platform, so that they could see the drop and record the time of death.

2011, Elizabeth Dale, “Justice is Served”, in The Chicago Trunk Murder: Law and Justice at the Turn of the Century, DeKalb, Ill.: Northern Illinois University Press, →ISBN, page 74:

An act or instance of dropping (in all senses).

(law enforcement, informal) Preceded by the: execution by hanging.

The distance through which something drops, or falls below a certain level.

(law enforcement) The distance that a person drops when being executed by hanging.


fireman

By February 1944 there were over two thousand women employed at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company [...]. There were also female firemen on almost every shipyard crane [...].

1993, Nancy F. Cott, editor, History of Women in the United States. Historical Articles on Women's Lives and Activities. 15. Women and War, page 432:

For firemen everywhere rescuing cats from trees has been as much a part of the job as tackling blazing buildings.

30 June 2019, Don't call us for cats stuck in trees', Fire Brigade warns (Daily Telegraph)

(firefighting) Someone (especially one who is male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.


imprisonment

en-noun

imprisonment (countable and uncountable, plural imprisonments)

From Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison + -ment.

His sinews woxen weake and raw / Through long emprisonment and hard constraint.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 2:

Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets.

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]

1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

A confinement in a place, especially a prison or a jail, especially as punishment for a crime.


clavis

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

Iron clavis, the solid web-shaped at the edges to fit the wards in the lock, and having a pointed broach and a kite-formed looped haft.

1873, “Proceedings of the Association”, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 29, April 9th, page 202:


vice

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English vice, from Old French vice, from Latin vitium (“fault or blemish”). Displaced native Old English unþēaw.

(law enforcement, slang) Clipping of vice squad.


apprehend

en-verb

apprehend (third-person singular simple present apprehends, present participle apprehending, simple past and past participle apprehended)

apprehends (present singular third-person)
apprehending (participle present)
apprehended (participle past)
apprehended (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-apprehend.wav

From Late Middle English apprehenden (“to grasp, take hold of; to comprehend; to learn”), from Old French apprehender (modern French appréhender (“to apprehend; to catch; to dread”)), from Latin apprehendere, adprehendere, the present active infinitive of apprehendō, adprehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, take; to apprehend, arrest; to comprehend, understand; to embrace, include; to take possession of, obtain, secure”), from ap-, ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + prehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, snatch, take; to accost; to catch in the act, take by surprise; (figuratively, rare) of the mind: to apprehend, comprehend, grasp”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold, seize, take; to find”)).

der

Officers apprehended the suspect two streets away from the bank.

[…] Paul before his converſion entred into their Synagogues at Damaſcus, to apprehend Chriſtians, men and women, and to carry them bound to Jeruſalem, by Commiſſion from the High Prieſt.

1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Power Ecclesiasticall”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 3rd part (Of a Christian Common-wealth), page 276:

[A] juſtice of the peace cannot iſſue a warrant to apprehend a felon upon bare ſuſpicion; no, not even till an indictment be actually found: and the contrary practice is by others held to be grounded rather upon connivance, than the expreſs rule of law; though now by long cuſtom eſtabliſhed.

1769, William Blackstone, “Of Arrests”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 287:

He soon returned to the Lowlands, and stayed there till he learned that a considerable body of troops had been sent to apprehend him.

1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 328:

(law enforcement) To seize or take (a person) by legal process; to arrest.

арышто́ўваць

to seize or take (a person) by legal process — see also arrest


perp

"We have the perp in custody," the policeman said.

Got himself fired for pulling a sword on an acknowledged perp. Slid it right through the fabric of the perp’s shirt, gliding the flat of the blade along the base of his neck, and pinned him to a warped and bubbled expanse of vinyl siding on the wall of the house that the perp was trying to break into.

1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 6:


posse

Coordinate term: vigilante

He […] no sooner set his nose within the room to which he was directed, than the constable and his posse sprung upon him, before he had the least intimation of his design, or any opportunity of acting in his own defence.

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

Mathews then appointed Morton as a deputy sheriff and after a posse had been selected, they went in pursuit of the criminals. Within a few hours, the posse overtook the thieves.

1986, Donald R. Lavash, Sheriff William Brady, Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War, Sunstone Press, →ISBN, page 77:

While Wyatt dismounted and aimed his shotgun at Brocius, the rest of his posse retreated.

2013, Andrew C. Isenberg, Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life, Hill and Wang, →ISBN, page 165:

(now historical, in later use chiefly US) A group of people summoned to help law enforcement.


turnkey

He saw the same Turnkey unfetter a man / With but little expedition, / Which put him in mind of the long debate / On the Slave-trade abolition.

1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:

[…]they passed through an open door into a lobby, from which a heavy gate, opposite to that by which they had entered, and which was guarded by a stout turnkey with the key in his hand, led at once into the interior of the prison.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

'Certainly not,' said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his statement.

1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:

(archaic) A warder or jailer/gaoler; keeper of the keys in a prison.


calaboose

Tok Pisin: kalabus

From Cajun French calabousse, from Spanish calabozo. Doublet of calabozo.

The slaughter-house is gone from the mouth of Bear Creek and so is the small jail (or 'calaboose') which once stood in its neighborhood. A citizen asked, 'Do you remember when Jimmy Finn, the town drunkard, was burned to death in the calaboose?'

1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 56, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:

Bogator: (Still unbelieving) And you turned the calaboose over?

1937, Langston Hughes, When the Jack Hollers; or Careless Love: A Negro-Folk Comedy in Three Acts, in The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 5. The Plays to 1942: Mulatto to The Sun Do Move, Leslie Catherine Sanders (ed.), Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002, pp. 392-3, Bogator: Aunt Billie, I thought you were in jail! Aunt Billie: I was, but I got tired of that little ole privy-sized jail, so I jest turned it over and come out! […]

[…] he had but recently come out of Calaboose, where he had been serving a term for debt […]

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter IX, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 150:

Thereupon the Administrator in Rabaul almost outdid himself in defending corporal punishment […] and demanded drastic alternative punishments, for the "calaboose" (Kalabus: Tok Pisin for prison) "is the native's paradise."

1995, Hermann Hiery, chapter 2, in The Neglected War: The German South Pacific and the Influence of World War I, University of Hawaii Press, page 82:

The first calaboose or city jail used by the officers of the law was located on Cumberland Street, just below the vacant lot adjacent to the Star Steam Laundry.

2001, Sylvia D. Lynch, To Protect and Serve: History of the Knoxville Police Department, 1849-2001, Turner Publishing Company, page 79:

In his opinion it would seem that certain usages of colloquial English in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1800s could have been selected as conventional usages in the developing contact jargon. Many of these usages are still part of colloquial speech today in both of these countries, for example: fella for 'one', […] no good, orright, calaboose, […]

2004, Darrell T. Tryon, Jean-Michel Charpentier, chapter 5, in Pacific Pidgins and Creoles: Origins, Growth and Development, Mouton de Gruyter, page 117:

(US, Australia, dialect) A prison or jail/gaol.


chauffeur

(firefighting) The driver of a fire truck.


pork

en-noun

pork (countable and uncountable, plural porks)

→ Japanese: ポーク (pōku)

From Middle English pork, porc, via Anglo-Norman, from Old French porc (“swine, hog, pig; pork”), from Latin porcus (“domestic hog, pig”).
Cognate with Old English fearh (“piglet”). Doublet of farrow. Compare also other West Germanic words for pigs: Ferkel, Ferke, and varken.
Used in English since the 14th century, and as a term of abuse since the 17th century.
US politics sense is related to pork barrel.
The verb is from the black American form of poke.

der

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

Meronym: porky (“one member of law enforcement, policeman”)

criminal prosecution
criminal prosecution

(MLE, slang, collective) law enforcement, those who side with criminal prosecution


electrocutioner

/ɪˌlɛktɹəˈkjuʃənɚ/

/ɪˌlɛktɹəˈkjuːʃənə/

Blend of electrocution + executioner, or electrocution + -er

U.S. Supreme Court: STATE OF LA. EX REL. FRANCIS v. RESWEBER, 329 U.S. 459 (1947) 329 U.S. 459 STATE OF LOUISIANA ex rel. FRANCIS v. RESWEBER, sheriff, et al. No. 142.
'Then the electrocutioner turned on the switch and when he did Willie Francis' lips puffed out and he groaned and jumped so that the chair came off the floor. Apparently the switch was turned on twice and then the condemned man yelled: 'Take it off. Let me breath." Affidavit of official witness Harold Resweber, dated May 23, 1946.

Smiling as I throw the switch that takes away their breath
I see life as an interruption to the tune of death

1978, The Residents (lyrics and music), “The Electrocutioner”, in Duck Stab/Buster & Glen, performed by Monica Ganas and Snakefinger:

an executioner who carries out an execution by means of electricity.


foam

en-noun

foam (countable and uncountable, plural foams)

From Middle English fom, foom, from Old English fām, from Proto-West Germanic *faim, from Proto-Germanic *faimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poHy-m-os, from *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”). Cognate with German Feim (“foam”), Latin spūma (“foam”), Latin pūmex (“pumice”), Sanskrit फेन (phéna, “foam”), possibly Northern Kurdish fê (“epilepsy”).

skuim

A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially:

(firefighting) A collection of small bubbles formed by mixing an extinguishing agent with water, used to cover and extinguish fires.


foam

en-verb

foam (third-person singular simple present foams, present participle foaming, simple past and past participle foamed)

foams (present singular third-person)
foaming (participle present)
foamed (participle past)
foamed (past)

It used to be common practice to foam the runway prior to an emergency landing, in case a fuel-fed fire occurred.

(firefighting) To coat or cover with foam.


solve

From Middle English solven, from Latin solvō.

The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 69”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

KEVIN: I decided a long time ago that just because I love Raymond, doesn't mean I have to love the people he works with. Good solve, Detective.

2014 February 4, The Party, Gil Ozeri and Gabe Liedman (writers), Michael Engler (director), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 1, episode 16

“Hey, Mr. Quilt Bandit.”
 Ian smiled. “Nice solve, Nancy Drew.”

2017, Elodia Strain, The Dating Experiment, →ISBN:

(now rare, chiefly law enforcement) A solution; an explanation.


population

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus. Doublet of poblacion.

bor+

invånarantal (often expressed as "har X invånare" instead)

I would like to say something about the place I am doing time at. When I was placed in population, I met another woman and we immediately became good friends.

1985 April 6, Jackie Beattie, “More Power To Us All”, in Gay Community News, page 4:


jail

en-verb

jail (third-person singular simple present jails, present participle jailing, simple past and past participle jailed)

jails (present singular third-person)
jailing (participle present)
jailed (participle past)
jailed (past)

From Middle English gayole, gaylle, gaille, gayle, gaile, via Old French gaiole, gayolle, gaole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for Late Latin caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea (“cavity, coop, cage”). Doublet of caveola and related to cage. More at cajole.

It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.

2020 September 9, “Network News: Man jailed for Hillingdon murder”, in Rail, page 25:


prison

en-noun

prison (countable and uncountable, plural prisons)

From Middle English prisoun, prison, a borrowing from Old French prison, from Latin prehensiōnem, accusative singular of prehensiō, from the verb prehendō. Doublet of prehension.

The cold stone walls of the prison had stood for over a century.

A place or institution where people are held against their will, in the US especially for long-term confinement, as of those convicted of serious crimes or otherwise considered undesirable by the government.

абахҭа

place of long-term confinement for those convicted of serious crimes

Prison was a harrowing experience for him.


shield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

noncog

The chief put something in his hand and Bosch looked down to see the gold detective's shield.

2005, Michael Connelly, The closers: a novel:

A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.

(colloquial, law enforcement) A police badge.


lagging

en-noun

lagging (usually uncountable, plural laggings)

"Whether you'll get a nine or a lagging depends on the answer you give me, Mrs. Inglethorne."

1926, Edgar Wallace, The Square Emerald:

(slang, countable) A prison sentence, originally one of at least three years.


rap

From RAP (“record of arrest and prosecution”).

(US, law enforcement) Acronym of record of arrest and prosecution.


joint

The noun is from Middle English joynt (attested since the late 13th century), from Old French joint (“joint of the body”) (attested since the 12th century). The adjective (attested since the 15th century) is from Old French jointiz. Both Old French words are from Latin iūnctus, the past participle of iungō. See also join, jugular.
The meaning of "building, establishment", especially in connection with shady activities, appeared in Anglo-Irish by 1821 and entered general American English slang by 1877, especially in the sense of "opium den". The sense "marijuana cigarette" is attested since 1935. The development to meaning "any thing" also happened to the Scots and Memphian form junt and the Mid-Atlantic/Philadelphian form jawn.

verbinding

point of a rigid joint, means of joining in carpentry

I'm just trying to stay out of the joint.

en:place of business or human activity
en:prison, jail, or lockup

(chiefly US slang, may be somewhat derogatory) A place of business, particularly in the food service or hospitality industries; sometimes extended to any place that is a focus of human connection or activity (e.g., schools, hangouts, party spots).

(slang, with the definite article) Prison, jail, or lockup.


truncheon

/ˈtɹʌnt͡ʃən/

/ˈtɹʌnt͡ʃən/

From Middle English tronchoun, from Old French tronchon (“thick stick”), from Late Latin *troncionem, from Latin truncus.

Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword / The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe / Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 60:

A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.

полицейска палка

a baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer

Therewith asunder in the midst it brast, / And in his hand nought but the troncheon left[…].

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.

Truncheons of seven or eight feet long, thrust two feet into the earth […] when once rooted, may be cut at six inches above ground

1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

(obsolete) A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.


TWOC

TWOC (countable and uncountable, plural TWOCs)

From section 12 of the United Kingdom's Theft Act 1968, which states 'a person shall be guilty of an offence if, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, he takes any conveyance for his own or another’s use or, knowing that any conveyance has been taken without such authority, drives it or allows himself to be carried in or on it'.

[…] women making arrests for aggravated burglary represent 22 per cent of the total and for aggravated TWOCs, 23 per cent […]

2002, Louise Westmarland, Gender and Policing, Routledge, →ISBN:

[…] the reported victimisation rate for TWOC and attempted TWOC (six out of 28 available vehicles victimised, and […])

2010, Anthony Bottoms, Julian Roberts, Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State, Routledge, →ISBN, page 121:

(British, law enforcement) The crime of taking a car without the consent of the owner.

未獲授權而取用運輸工具 /未获授权而取用运输工具

the crime of taking without the consent of the owner

mei6 wok6 sau6 kyun4 ji4 ceoi2 jung6 wan6 syu1 gung1 geoi6


rozzer

Late 19th century UK. Etymology unknown. Possibly a play on the given name of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the Metropolitan Police Service. Compare peeler, bobby.

unk

Etymology unknown

"Another wrong un," says the carman. "Hi, Mr. Graham!"—and up walks a rozzer and buckles me tight.

If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun.

1893, P. H. Emerson, Signor Lippo, Burnt-Cork Artiste:

‘I was never frightened of any job yet,’ he said, ‘and I'd do this job to-night if the house was full of rozzers,’ Hill pretended that he wasn't particular whether the thing came off or not that night, but all the while he kept egging Fred on to do it.

1916, Arthur J. Rees, John R. Watson, The Hampstead Mystery:

Jed Mercurio’s corrupt cop hit remains one of the best shows on TV, but surely every rozzer in the Midlands knows who Kate Fleming is by now?

2017 March 25, Errigo Angie, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian, TV & Radio blog:

(UK, Ireland, slang, dated) A police officer.


charge

en-verb

charge (third-person singular simple present charges, present participle charging, simple past and past participle charged)

charges (present singular third-person)
charging (participle present)
charged (participle past)
charged (past)

desc

→ Cantonese: 叉廚 /叉厨 (caa¹ cyu⁴), 叉 (caa¹)

→ Kashubian: czardżowac (United States)

→ Malay: caj, cas

→ Swahili: chaji

From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

yükləmək

to place a burden upon, to assign a duty

yükləmək

to load equipment with material required for its use

I'm charging you with assault and battery.

(transitive, criminal law, law enforcement) To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.

اِتَّهَمَ

criminal law, law enforcement: to formally accuse of a crime


prior

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

der

априорное распределение вероятностей

And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he's got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1966, →OCLC, page 47:

(Canada, US, law enforcement, chiefly in the plural) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.

досие

previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone’s criminal record


dibble

en-noun

dibble (countable and uncountable, plural dibbles)

Hanna-Barbera
New York Police Department
Top Cat

From the character of Officer Charlie Dibble, a New York Police Department officer, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Top Cat (first broadcast in the US in 1961, and in the UK in 1962 under the title Boss Cat).

Remember this story about police hunting a metal detector enthusiast suspected of digging 20 holes in a school playing field in Cornwall? It’s taken a rather unusual twist. Pop superstar Robbie Williams appears to have ’fessed up to the crime. The former Take That star, who is a keen metal detecting enthusiast, retweeted the West Briton newspaper’s version of the story, telling ‘Dibble’ – a Mancunian slang term for the police which comes from the character Officer Dibble in the cartoon Top Cat – to ‘do one’, vowing the police will never catch him alive.

2016 May 12, “maxc73”, “Robbie Williams ‘confesses’ to digging holes in school’s playing field”, in The Herald, Plymouth, Devon, archived from the original on 2017-03-16:

(slang, British, originally Manchester, countable) A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police.


bolo

(US law enforcement) A request for law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for a suspect.


goer

From Middle English goere, equivalent to go + -er. Compare German Geher (“goer, walker”).

[…] multiple calls on Southwark's ground. From the radio traffic it sounded like they had a goer.

2023, A. J. Taylor, Firefighting: Better than Working for a Living:

(firefighting, slang) A fire incident in progress.


jigger

A slang term of unknown origin, originally meaning prison. Oxford English Dictionary suggests that its origin might be the same as Etymology 1, above.

According to a disciplinary notice, a correctional officer saw a "jigger string" coming from cell H-2 to Harper's cell. A jigger string is used to move objects between cells.

1990, “Supreme Court of Iowa”, in Court Listener, Harper v. State, 463 N.W.2d 418 (Iowa 1990):


quod

quod (countable and uncountable, plural quods)

Abbreviation of quadrangle; originally (17th century) referring to the quadrangles of Newgate Prison, London.

c. 1894, Acquaintance of Norman Lindsay, quoted in 2005, James Cockington, Banned: Tales From the Bizarre History of Australian Obscenity, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, paperback →ISBN, page 7,
I don′t suppose you'll get more than a couple of months′ quod for them.

(uncountable, Australia, slang) Confinement in a prison.


mew

From Middle English mewe, mue, mwe, from Anglo-Norman mue, muwe, and Middle French mue (“shedding feathers; cage for moulting birds; prison”), from muer (“to moult”).

der

(obsolete) A prison, or other place of confinement.


incarceration

en-noun

incarceration (countable and uncountable, plural incarcerations)

/ɪŋˌkɑː(ɹ)səˈɹeɪʃən/

A constriction of the hernial sac, rendering it irreducible, but not great enough to cause strangulation.


flake

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

cog

When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money.

1973, Knapp Commission, New York, The Knapp Commission Report on Police Corruption, page 83:

(US, law enforcement, slang) A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.


flake

en-verb

flake (third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)

flakes (present singular third-person)
flaking (participle present)
flaked (participle past)
flaked (past)

(US, law enforcement, slang) To plant evidence to facilitate a corrupt arrest.


jailer

Inherited from Middle English gayoler, gayler, jayler, from Old French jaiolier, gaiolier, from jaiole. By surface analysis, jail + -er.

Sometimes some of the ejected ministers preached to them privately, and now and then the jailer allowed Mr. H. to go out in the night to preach to them, and administer the Lord's Supper.

1775, Samuel Palmer, The Nonconformist's Memorial:

But the next morning came, and my coffee was brought by her mother; the next, and the next, by the under jailers; and Angiola continued grievously ill.

1883, Silvio Pellico, chapter 32, in My Ten Years' Imprisonment:

The jailer was also roused by the earthquake and came to the outer door; he was perhaps a soldier, or at least had something of Roman discipline, giving him presence of mind.

2001, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, St. Paul: The Traveler and Roman Citizen, page 176:

One who enforces confinement in a jail or prison.


raid

From Scots raid, from Northern Middle English rade, from Old English rād (“a riding, an expedition on horseback, road”), whence also the inherited English road (“way, street”). The earlier senses of “a riding, expedition, raid” fell into disuse in Early Modern English, but were revived in the northern form raid by Walter Scott in the early 19th century. The use for a swift police operation appears in the later 19th century and may perhaps have been influenced by French razzia (similar in both original meaning and sound).

der

a police raid of a narcotics factory

a raid of contractors on the public treasury

For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.

2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:

(law enforcement) An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering.

غَارَة

attack for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering


ladder

en-verb

ladder (third-person singular simple present ladders, present participle laddering, simple past and past participle laddered)

ladders (present singular third-person)
laddering (participle present)
laddered (participle past)
laddered (past)

From Middle English ladder, laddre, from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”).
Compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, leer, German Leiter); also Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌋𐌄𐌈𐌓𐌀𐌌 (kleθram, “stretcher”)). See lean, which is related to lid.

The Rochdale climber spoken of once fell 70 feet from a mill at Linfitts, owing to an accident while he was laddering. He was terribly hurt, but recovered, and still carries on his trade with unshaken nerve.

1896, Chambers's Journal, Edinburgh, London: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, page 367:

A good working knowledge of the ladder parts, how they work, their capacities, and proper usage are a must before anyone is sent out to ladder a building.

1998, John Norman, Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics, 2nd edition, Saddle Brook, N.J.: Fire Engineering, →ISBN, page 164:

He was barefoot, but he was wearing his climbing harness and was attached to Telperion with a rope. He unclipped the rope, detaching himself from the tree. He stepped out onto a branch and free-climbed up to Cordaro's hammock. […] He laddered his way barefoot to the very top of Telperion. He didn't use a rope, and he felt that any hominid with any dexterity could have pulled off the climb.

2007, Richard Preston, “Detonation Zone”, in The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN:

(chiefly firefighting) To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.

offences to be taken into consideration
offence to be taken into consideration

(UK, law enforcement, of a police officer) To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.


ASBO

(British, law enforcement) Anti-Social Behaviour Order


ASBO

ASBO (third-person singular simple present ASBOs, present participle ASBOing, simple past and past participle ASBOed)

ASBOs (present singular third-person)
ASBOing (participle present)
ASBOed (participle past)
ASBOed (past)

Yes he will probably end up in the criminal justice system in a few years time - but if we ASBO him now he's going to end up there an awful lot quicker because he will breach it.

2005, Andrew Millie, Anti-Social Behaviour Strategies: Finding a Balance, page 31:

"Shut up, both of you. I've got the police here. You'll get asboed," Sally shouted

2008, Harry James, Consequences?, page 65:

The redemptive storyline reminded me of the importance, in my own practice, of continuing to learn from the understanding of others' experiences and interactions in negotiating the new penal landscape of "ASBOing", portrayed so well in Rhodes' novel.

2008, Peter Squires, ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance, page 151:

(British, law enforcement, transitive) To issue an Anti-Social Behaviour Order to.