Keystone Cop

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English

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Etymology

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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

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Keystone Cop (plural Keystone Cops)

  1. (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.”

Alternative forms

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