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Keystone Cop. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Keystone Cop, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Keystone Cop in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
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.
Noun
Keystone Cop (plural Keystone Cops)
- (informal) A bungling, incompetent policeman.
2003, Colin Evans, A Question of Evidence, page 162:Every blunder added weight to defense depictions of the CID as a bunch of Keystone Kops bunglers, a disgrace to serious criminal investigation.
2011, T. L. Carpenter, The Amerikan Dream, page 174:“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.”