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Keystone Cop

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.

Definitions

  1. 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.
    • “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.”

The neighborhood

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA