rozzer

English

Alternative forms

• rosser

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒzə(ɹ)/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒzə(ɹ)

Noun

rozzer (plural rozzers)

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer

   • 1888 May 26, The Sporting Times:

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

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

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

   • 1916, Arthur J. Rees, John R. Watson, The Hampstead Mystery‎^[1]:

     ‘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.

   • 2017 March 25, Errigo Angie, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian‎^[2], TV & Radio blog:

     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?

Translations

(slang) police officer — see also cop

• French: flic (fr) m, poulet (fr) m, keuf (fr) (verlan)
• German: Bulle (de) m
• Icelandic: lögga (is) f
• Italian: poliziotto (it) m
• Spanish: madero (es) (Spain), chota (es) m (N Mexico, El Salvador), tira (es) (Mexico, Argentina, Chile)
• Swedish: snut (sv) c
• Turkish: aynasız (tr)

References

• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers (1903) “rozzer”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume VI, [London: […] Harrison and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 65.
• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890) “rozzer”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 187.
• “rozzer n.¹”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present