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police force

 - 7 dictionary results
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po⋅lice

  [puh-lees] 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.
7. 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] 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-shoor-uhns],  [uhm-brel-uh], and [ahy-deeuh ].
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To police force
po·lice   (pə-lēs')   
n.   pl. police

  1. 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.

  3. (used with a pl. verb) Police officers considered as a group.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

  1. To regulate, control, or keep in order with or as if with a law enforcement agency.

  2. 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.
police force  
n.  See police.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

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

Main Entry: police force
Function: noun
: a body of trained officers entrusted by a government with maintenance of public peace and order, enforcement of laws, and prevention and detection of crime
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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