different between police vs policemen

English

Etymology

From Middle French police, from Latin pol?t?a (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (politeía). Doublet of policy and polity.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, General American, Scotland) IPA^(key): /p??li?s/, [p????li?s]
• (England, colloquial) IPA^(key): /?pli?s/
• (Southern American English, AAVE) IPA^(key): /?po?.li?s/
• Rhymes: -i?s
• Hyphenation: po?lice

Noun

police pl (normally plural, singular police)

1. A civil force granted the legal authority for law enforcement and maintaining public order. [from 18th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police
2. (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaican, Scotland) A police officer. [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer
3. (figuratively) People who seek to enforce norms or standards.
4. (military, slang) The duty of cleaning up.
   • 1907, Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, concerning the Affray at Brownsville, Tex. on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906 (volume 2)

     Q. […] What did you do that day? — A. I was cleaning up around quarters.
     Q. You had been on guard and went on police duty? You were policing, cleaning up around the barracks? — A. Yes, sir.

5. (obsolete) Policy. [15th-19th c.]
6. (obsolete) Communal living; civilization. [16th-19th c.]
7. (now rare, historical) The regulation of a given community or society; administration, law and order etc. [from 17th c.]
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Greta Nation, Penguin 2003, page 218:

     The notion of ‘police’ – that is, rational administration – was seen as a historical force which could bring civilized improvement to societies.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

police (third-person singular simple present polices, present participle policing, simple past and past participle policed)

1. (transitive) To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).
2. (transitive, intransitive, military, slang) To clean up an area.
   • 1900, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, Proceedings of the eighth annual meeting

     This comes to him through the company housekeeping, for in the field each organization takes care of itself, cooks its own food, makes its own beds, does its own policing (cleaning up); […]

   • 1907, Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, concerning the Affray at Brownsville, Tex. on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906 (volume 2)

     Q. […] What did you do that day? — A. I was cleaning up around quarters.
     Q. You had been on guard and went on police duty? You were policing, cleaning up around the barracks? — A. Yes, sir.

   • 1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (film script)

     ELIAS: Police up your extra ammo and frags, don't leave nothing for the dinks.

   • 2006, Robert B. Parker, Hundred-Dollar Baby, Putnam, ?ISBN, page 275,

     "Fire off several rounds in a residential building and stop to police the brass?"

3. (transitive, figuratively) To enforce norms or standards upon.

   to police a person's identity

Derived terms

• self-police
• tone policing

Anagrams

• ecilop

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pol?t?s?/

Noun

police f

1. shelf (a structure)

Declension

Derived terms

• poli?ka

Further reading

• police in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• police in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Via Middle French police and Italian polizza from Ancient Greek ????????? (apódeixis, “proof”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [p?o?li?s?]

Noun

police c (singular definite policen, plural indefinite policer)

1. policy (an insurance contract)

Inflection

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.lis/
• Rhymes: -is

Etymology 1

From Late Latin pol?t?a (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (politeía).

Noun

police f (plural polices)

1. police

   Coordinate terms: gendarmerie, sûreté

2. (Quebec, colloquial) cop (police officer)

   Synonyms: flic, gendarme, keuf, policier

Derived terms

Related terms

• policier
• policière

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian polizza.

Noun

police f (plural polices)

1. (insurance) policy

2. (typography) fount, font

Derived terms

• police d'écriture

Descendants

• ? German: Police
• ? Turkish: polis

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

police

1. first-person singular present indicative of policer
2. third-person singular present indicative of policer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of policer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of policer
5. second-person singular imperative of policer

Anagrams

• picole, picolé

Further reading

• “police” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin politia.

Noun

police f (plural polices)

1. governance; management
   • 1577, Jean d'Ogerolles, Discours sur la contagion de peste qui a esté ceste presente annee en la ville de Lyon, front cover

     contenant les causes d'icelle, l'ordre, moyen et police tenue pour en purger, nettoyer et delivrer la ville (subheading)

     containing the causes, the order, means and management employed to purge, clean and deliver the city

Related terms

• policie

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin politia.

Noun

police f (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) police

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

police

1. inflection of polica:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?lit?s?/

Noun

police

1. nominative plural of polica

English

Noun

policemen

1. plural of policeman

Anagrams

• pimeclone