Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bent copper

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.81 in modern English

Syllables: ben-t -cop-per
IPA

18

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A corrupt police officer.

British usage; Informal

Example Sentences

"Onay remembered that he had placed 40 kilos at the bottom of his wardrobe. That meant approximately three and a half kilos had disappeared during the police raid. Bulent kept quiet but the officers eventually found out and a bent copper was later blamed for the alleged theft."
"Anticorruption is a double-edged sword. We need to find just enough bent coppers to avoid accusations of a cover-up, but not so many that the public starts to wonder if the police can be trusted."
"He had always been a bent copper. He had joined the police force with the intention of being a bent copper. In that, he had been eminently successful."

Etymology

From bent (“not straight, corrupt, dishonest”) + copper (“policeman”), a variant of cop. It could also be a pun taken from a bent copper coin.

Usage

British usage
Informal

Inflected Forms

bent coppers (plural)

Questions

What does bent copper mean?: A corrupt police officer.
Where does bent copper come from?: From bent (“not straight, corrupt, dishonest”) + copper (“policeman”), a variant of cop. It could also be a pun taken from a bent copper coin.

How to pronounce bent copper

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