Keystone Cop en · NOUN
Etymology
From the Keystone Cops, a group of fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent slapstick comedies produced by the Keystone Film Company (itself named for the "Keystone State": Pennsylvania) between 1912 and 1917.
Meanings
-
(informal) A bungling, incompetent policeman.
Every blunder added weight to defense depictions of the CID as a bunch of Keystone Kops bunglers, a disgrace to serious criminal investigation.
2003, Colin Evans, A Question of Evidence, page 162:“I'm gone three days and look what happens? You two get sent out to do some spying and end up with front-row seats at a Keystone Kop shoot-out.”
2011, T. L. Carpenter, The Amerikan Dream, page 174:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keystone Cops | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| Keystone Kop | alternative | lexicographic |