rozzer

Late 19th century UK. Etymology unknown.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒzə(ɹ)/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒzə(ɹ)

rozzer (plural rozzers)

1. (UK, slang) A police officer.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:police officer

   • 1888 May 26, The Sporting Times:

     "Another wrong un," says the carman. "Hi, Mr. Graham!"—and up walks a rozzer and buckles me tight.

   • 1893, Emerson, P. H., Signor Lippo, Burnt-Cork Artiste:

     If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun.

   • 2017 March 25, Errigo, Angie, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian‎, TV & Radio blog:

     Jed Mercurio’s corrupt cop hit remains one of the best shows on TV, but surely every rozzer in the Midlands knows who Kate Fleming is by now?

• Farmer, John Stephen (1903) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 6, page 65
• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890), “rozzer”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume II (L–Z), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, OCLC 882571771, page 187.