rent-a-cop
rent-a-cop noun: a private security guard, usually one regarded as inferior to and less skilled than an actual law enforcement officer.
Noun
rent-a-cop (plural rent-a-cops)
- A private security guard, usually one regarded as inferior to and less skilled than an actual law enforcement officer.
- “What got into you tonight? Why'd you pull that scene at the arcade? I had to mess up this rentacop^([sic]) came after me with nunchucks.”1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 24
Forms of rent-a-cop
| plural | rent-a-cops |
|---|---|
| alternative form | rentacop |
Origin of rent-a-cop
From rent-a- + cop, modelled after the brand name Rent-a-Car.
Questions about rent-a-cop
- What does rent-a-cop mean?
- Rent-a-cop means a private security guard, usually one regarded as inferior to and less skilled than an actual law enforcement officer.
- What part of speech is rent-a-cop?
- Rent-a-cop is a noun.
- What is the plural of rent-a-cop?
- The plural of rent-a-cop is rent-a-cops.
Words near rent-a-cop in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rent-a-cop (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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Cite this entry: “rent-a-cop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rent-a-cop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.