harman-beck

Noun

harman-beck (plural harman-becks)

1. (obsolete, thieves' cant) A policeman.
   • The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harmanbeck,
     If we mawnd Pannam, lap, or Ruff-peck,
     Or poplars of yarum: he cuts, bing to the Ruffmans,
     Or els he ſweares by the light-mans,
     To put our ſtamps in the Harmans.1609, Thomas Dekker, “Lanthorne and Candle-light. Or, The Bell-man’s Second Nights-walke. […] The Second Edition, […]: Of Canting, How Long It hath beene a Language: How It Comes to bee a Language...
   • But O ben Coue what if we be clyd,
     Long we cannot foist & nip at last we shall be spyed,
     If that we be spied, O then begins our woe,
     With the Harman beake out and alas,
     To Wittington we goe.1610, “The Maunderer's Wooing”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 8

   Synonyms:

   harman, nuthook, PC Plod