Coopered, ppl. adj. (racing, thieves’, and vagrants’).—Hocussed;
spoiled; ruined; e.g., a house is said to be coopered when the
importunity of many tramps has caused its inmates to cold-shoulder the
whole fraternity; a coopered horse is a horse that has been ‘got at’
with a view to prevent its running.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232.
‘Cooper’d,’ spoiled by the imprudence of some other patterer.
Coored, adj. (old).—Whipped.—D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171 [1821].
Coot, subs. (American).—A stupid fellow; generally ‘a silly’ or ‘mad
old coot.’ Stupid as a coot is a common English provincialism. [The
fulica altra, the bald or common coot, like the ostrich, is said to
bury its head when pursued, thinking none can see it, as it cannot see
itself.] For synonyms, see Buffle-head and Cabbage-head.
Cooter.—See Couter.
Cop, subs. (common).—A policeman. [From cop, verb, sense 1.] For
synonyms, see Beak, sense 1, and Copper.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 124. Oh! where
will be the culls of the bing ... And all the cops and beaks so
knowin’, A hundred stretches hence?
1879. Punch, 3 May, p. 201, col. 1. I suppose if the Toffs took a
fancy for chewing a stror or a twig, Like a tout or a hostler, or
tumbled to carryin’ a bludgeon as big As a crib cracker’s nobby
persuader, Pall Mall would be jolly soon gay With blue-blooded
blokes a green cop might mistake for foot-pads on the lay.
Verb (common).—1. To seize; steal; catch; take an unfair advantage in a
bet or bargain. [Cop has been associated with the root of the Latin
cap-io, to seize, to snatch; also with the Gypsy kap or cop = to take;
Scotch kep; and Gallic ceapan. Probably, however, its true radix is to
be found in the Hebrew cop = a hand or palm. Low-class Jews employ the
term, and understand it to refer to the act of snatching.]
[Cop like Chuck (q.v.), is a sort of general utility verb. Thus to
Cop the Needle = to get angry; to Cop the Bullet or the door = to
get the sack; to Cop it Hot = to be severely clapped; to Cop it
(said of women) = to be got with child; and to Cop the Brewer = to
be drunk.]
For synonyms in the sense of to steal, see Prig; and in the sense of to
seize, see Nab.
1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. ‘Copper’ ... a slang name for a
policeman derived from cop, which is a well known and generally
used vulgarism for ‘catch.’
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., p. 500. I was taken by two
pals (companions) to an orchard to cop (steal) some fruit.
1883. Punch, Sept. 29, p. 146, col. 2. ‘Bill’s not such a fool as
you think; He’ll cop my truncheon, pat, Jam the whistle into my
mouth, And stretch the Peeler flat.’
1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. Booze
and the blowens cop the lot.