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8 dictionary results for: Police

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

po·lice

[puh-lees] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -liced, -lic·ing.

–noun

1.	Also called police force. an organized civil force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime, and enforcing the laws.

2.	(used with a plural verb) members of such a force: Several police are patrolling the neighborhood.

3.	the regulation and control of a community, esp. for the maintenance of public order, safety, health, morals, etc.

4.	the department of the government concerned with this, esp. with the maintenance of order.

5.	any body of people officially maintained or employed to keep order, enforce regulations, etc.

6.	people who seek to regulate a specified activity, practice, etc.: the language police.

Military. (in the U.S. Army)

a.	the cleaning and keeping clean of a camp, post, station, etc.

b.	the condition of a camp, post, station, etc., with reference to cleanliness.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to regulate, control, or keep in order by or as if by means of police.

9.	Military. to clean and keep clean (a camp, post, etc.)

[Origin: 1520–30; < MF: government, civil administration, police < LL polītia citizenship, government, for L polītīa; see polity

]

—Pronunciation note Many English words exemplify the original stress rule of Old English and other early Germanic languages, according to which all parts of speech except unprefixed verbs were stressed on the first syllable, and prefixed verbs were stressed on the syllable immediately following the prefix. Although the scope of this rule has been greatly restricted by the incorporation into English of loanwords that exhibit other stress patterns, the rule has always remained operative to some degree, and many loanwords have been conformed to it throughout the history of English. For South Midland and Midland U.S. speakers in particular, shifting the stress in borrowed nouns from a noninitial syllable to the first syllable is still an active process, yielding

[poh-lees] Pronunciation Key for police and

[dee-troit] for Detroit, as well as cement, cigar, guitar, insurance, umbrella, and idea said as

[see-ment],

[see-gahr],

[git-ahr],

[in-shoo

r-uh

ns],

[uhm-brel-uh], and

[ahy-dee^uh].

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

po·lice (pə-lēs') Pronunciation Key
n. pl. police

The governmental department charged with the regulation and control of the affairs of a community, now chiefly the department established to maintain order, enforce the law, and prevent and detect crime.
1. A body of persons making up such a department, trained in methods of law enforcement and crime prevention and detection and authorized to maintain the peace, safety, and order of the community.
2. A body of persons having similar organization and function: campus police. Also called police force.
3. The cleaning of a military base or other military area: Police of the barracks must be completed before inspection.
4. The soldiers assigned to a specified maintenance duty.
(used with a pl. verb) Police officers considered as a group.
Regulation and control of the affairs of a community, especially with respect to maintenance of order, law, health, morals, safety, and other matters affecting the public welfare.
Informal A group that admonishes, cautions, or reminds: grammar police; fashion police.
1. The cleaning of a military base or other military area: Police of the barracks must be completed before inspection.
2. The soldiers assigned to a specified maintenance duty.

tr.v. po·liced, po·lic·ing, po·lic·es

To regulate, control, or keep in order with or as if with a law enforcement agency.
To make (a military area, for example) neat in appearance: policed the barracks.

[French, from Old French policie, civil organization, from Late Latin polītīa, from Latin, the State, from Greek polīteia, from polītēs, citizen, from polis, city; see pelə-³ in Indo-European roots.]

po·lice'a·ble adj., po·lic'er n.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
police

c.1530, at first essentially the same word as policy (1); from M.Fr. police (1477), from L. politia "civil administration," from Gk. polis "city" (see policy (1)). Still used in Eng. for "civil administration" until mid-19c.; application to "administration of public order" (1716) is from Fr., and originally referred to France or other foreign nations. The first force so-named in Eng. was the Marine Police, set up 1798 to protect merchandise at the Port of London. The verb "to keep order by means of police" is from 1841; policeman is from 1829. Police state "state regulated by means of national police" first recorded 1865, with ref. to Austria.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

police
noun
1.	the force of policemen and officers; "the law came looking for him"
verb
1.	maintain the security of by carrying out a patrol [syn: patrol]

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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: po·lice
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: po·liced; po·lic·ing
: to control, regulate, or keep in order esp. as an official duty <police the area>

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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: police
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural police
1 : the control and regulation of affairs affecting the order and welfare of a political unit and its citizens
2 a : the department of a government or other institution that maintains order and safety and enforces laws b : POLICE FORCE c plural : the members of a police force

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Police

Po*lice"\, n. [F., fr. L. politia the condition of a state, government, administration, Gr. ?, fr. ? to be a citizen, to govern or administer a state, fr. ? citizen, fr. ? city; akin to Skr. pur, puri. Cf. Policy polity, Polity.]

1. A judicial and executive system, for the government of a city, town, or district, for the preservation of rights, order, cleanliness, health, etc., and for the enforcement of the laws and prevention of crime; the administration of the laws and regulations of a city, incorporated town, or borough.

2. That which concerns the order of the community; the internal regulation of a state.

3. The organized body of civil officers in a city, town, or district, whose particular duties are the preservation of good order, the prevention and detection of crime, and the enforcement of the laws.

4. (Mil.) Military police, the body of soldiers detailed to preserve civil order and attend to sanitary arrangements in a camp or garrison.

5. The cleaning of a camp or garrison, or the state ? a camp as to cleanliness.

Police commissioner, a civil officer, usually one of a board, commissioned to regulate and control the appointment, duties, and discipline of the police.

Police constable, or Police officer, a policeman.

Police court, a minor court to try persons brought before it by the police.

Police inspector, an officer of police ranking next below a superintendent.

Police jury, a body of officers who collectively exercise jurisdiction in certain cases of police, as levying taxes, etc.; -- so called in Louisiana. --Bouvier.

Police justice, or Police magistrate, a judge of a police court.

Police offenses (Law), minor offenses against the order of the community, of which a police court may have final jurisdiction.

Police station, the headquarters of the police, or of a section of them; the place where the police assemble for orders, and to which they take arrested persons.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Police

Po*lice"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Policed; p. pr. & vb. n. Policing.]

1. To keep in order by police.

2. (Mil.) To make clean; as, to police a camp.

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