Etymologically
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policeman

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 22:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /pəˈliːsmən/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of police and man.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the slightly earlier police officer.[2] The noun police had meant civil administration and government; its use for the force that keeps public order and fights crime was taken from French in the early 18th century and at first referred to France and other foreign countries.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of a police force: the OED's first example is from the Parliamentary Register of Ireland in 1788,[2][6] also the date Merriam-Webster gives.[7] Etymonline dates the word to 1790,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1795–1805.[5]

Semantic evolution

By 1806 policeman was used figuratively for a person or thing that watches over others and keeps them in order,[2][6] a use now heard in phrases such as "the world's policeman".[7] Several specialized senses followed: a soldier ant (1877),[2] a glass rod tipped with rubber for scraping a laboratory vessel, also called a rubber policeman (1888),[2][4] a member of a ship's watch who stays awake to rouse the others (1929),[2] and in ice hockey a player who protects his teammates from rough play (1959).[2] In Victorian slang a policeman was a bluebottle fly, a pun on bluebottle as a name for a constable (1860),[8] and among criminals the word was an insult for an untrustworthy man or an informer from 1873;[8] the OED has the "informer" sense from 1923.[2] An object that discourages or slows people down was called a policeman from 1951, now mostly in the British sleeping policeman, a speed bump.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1788 – a member of a police force.[2]
  • 1806 – figuratively, someone or something that keeps order.[2]
  • 1860 – (slang) a bluebottle fly.[8]
  • 1873 – (criminals' slang) an untrustworthy person, an informer.[8]
  • 1877 – a soldier ant (obsolete).[2]
  • 1888 – a rubber-tipped rod used in a laboratory.[2]
  • 1929 – (nautical) a member of the watch who wakes the crew.[2]
  • 1951 – an obstacle or deterrent, as in sleeping policeman.[2]
  • 1959 – (ice hockey) a player who protects teammates.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A man who is a member of a police force; a male police officer, especially a constable.
  2. A person, group or country that acts to keep others in order or to enforce rules: The agency sees itself as the policeman of the banking sector.
  3. (chemistry) A glass rod with a piece of rubber on the end, used to scrape solids from the sides of a vessel; a rubber policeman.
  4. (ice hockey) A player whose job is to protect teammates from rough play by the other team; an enforcer.

Word family

  • policemanlike

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com