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| po·lice [ pə lss ] |
noun |
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| Definition: |
| |
1. organization for maintaining law and order: a civil organization whose members are given special legal powers by the government and whose task is to maintain public order and to solve and prevent crimes
  a police car
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2. specialized force: an organized group of people whose job is maintaining order, ensuring that regulations are obeyed, and preventing crime within a particular area or sphere of activity
military police
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3. police officers: police officers considered as a group
(
takes a plural verb
)
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4. people enforcing correct behavior: a group of people who seek to make others' opinions or behavior conform with their own
(
informal
)
fashion police
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5. U.S. military cleanliness and order in military: the work of keeping a military base clean and orderly, or its state of cleanliness and order
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6. enforcement of law: the enforcement of law and the prevention of crime in a community
(
archaic
)
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transitive verb (past and past participle po·liced, present participle po·lic·ing, 3rd person present singular po·lic·es) |
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| Definition: |
| |
1. maintain law and order at something: to ensure that law and order are maintained at an event or location, using the police or a military force
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2. ensure something proceeds according to rules: to ensure that rules and procedures are followed correctly in something, or that something is implemented as agreed
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3. U.S. military clean military base: to keep a military base clean and orderly
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| [15th century. Via French and Latin< Greek politeia "civil organization, the state" < politēs "citizen" (see politic)] |
