Dirty Harry

5 6.7

A tough cop in Clint Eastwood films and a nickname for similar officers

proper noun
/ˈdɜrti ˈhæri/

: Harry el Sucio

When she described him as a Dirty Harry type, she meant he was tough and uncompromising.
Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry
Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry movie

Examples

Now you know why I'm called Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry (1971)
Why do they call you Dirty Harry?

Dirty Harry (1971)
No wonder they call him Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry (1971)
Hey, Anthony, you go see Dirty Harry like I told you?

The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
It's like calling Dirty Harry a pussy.

This Is the Night (2021)
In the movie, Dirty Harry relentlessly pursues the criminal until justice is served.
Many people still admire Dirty Harry for his unapologetic approach to fighting crime.

Surface Forms

Dirty Harry main

Morphology

dirty + Harry

This is a culture-specific proper name referring to a fictional film character; knowing 'dirty' (dishonest/unclean) and 'Harry' (a personal name) does not allow a B1 learner to infer the meaning 'tough, uncompromising law‑enforcement officer'. The nickname’s sense depends on knowledge of the movie character and connotations that are not compositionally predictable, so it is idiomatic and likely to be misunderstood.

Etymology

Dirty Harry comes from a 1970s movie about a tough cop named Harry who used rough, sometimes dirty methods to catch criminals. That's why calling someone a Dirty Harry means 'a tough, no-nonsense police officer'.