rozzer

English

Etymology

Late 19th century UK. Etymology unknown.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒzə(ɹ)/
Rhymes: -ɒzə(ɹ)

Noun

rozzer (plural rozzers)

(Britain, slang) A 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, Emerson, P. H., Signor Lippo, Burnt-Cork Artiste:
  If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun.
- 2017 March 25, Errigo, Angie, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian‎, 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?

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:police officer

Translations

(slang) police officer

French: flic (fr) m, poulet (fr) m, keuf (fr) (verlan)
Icelandic: lögga (is) f
Italian: poliziotto (it) m

Spanish: madero (es) (Spain), chota (es) m (N Mexico, El Salvador), tira (es) (Mexico, Argentina, Chile)
Turkish: aynasız (tr)

References

“rozzer” (US) / “rozzer” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

Farmer, John Stephen (1903) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 6, page 65
“rozzer” in Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: The Ballantyne Press, 1889–1890, page 187.

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