–verb (used with object), copped, cop⋅ping.Informal.
1.
to catch; nab.
2.
to steal; filch.
3.
to buy (narcotics).
—Verb phrase
4.
cop out,
a.
to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out (often fol. by on or of): He never copped out on a friend in need. You agreed to go, and you can't cop out now.
b.
cop a plea.
—Idiom
5.
cop a plea,
a.
to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence.
b.
to plead guilty to a lesser charge as a means of bargaining one's way out of standing trial for a more serious charge; plea-bargain.
Origin: 1695–1705; cf. cap (obs.) to arrest, Scots cap to seize ≪ dial. OF caper to take, ult. < L capere
tv. to take or steal something. (Originally underworld.) : Somebody copped the statue from the town square.
n. a theft. (Underworld.) : They pulled the cop in broad daylight.
n. a police officer. (From sense 1.) : The cop wasn't in any mood to put up with any monkey business.
tv. to arrest someone. (See also copped.) : They copped Sam with the evidence right on him.
n. an arrest. : It was a smooth cop. No muss, no fuss.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History
cop (n.)
"policeman," 1859, abbreviation of earlier copper (1846), from the verb.
[kop] 
