Word.ws English Dictionary

copping the needle

copping the needle is the present participle and gerund of cop the needle.

Meaning of cop the needle

Verb

cop the needle (third-person singular simple present cops the needle, present participle copping the needle, simple past and past participle copped the needle)

  1. (UK, slang) To grow annoyed.
    • It must have been the way I said it because he copped the needle and sneered, 'I haven't got to talk to you about fuck-all. Whatever I do is none of your Goddamn business.'1999, Roy Shaw with Kate Kray, “Nick-Knack-Paddy-Whack”, in Pretty Boy, London: Blake Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 82

Questions about copping the needle

What is copping the needle the present participle and gerund of?
Copping the needle is the present participle and gerund of cop the needle.

Words near copping the needle in the dictionary

  1. copping on
  2. copping one's whack
  3. copping oneself on
  4. copping onto
  5. copping out
  6. copping the needle
  7. Coppinger
  8. coppins
  9. coppis
  10. coppises
  11. coppish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: copping the needle (page history and authors); cop the needle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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