police cruiser
9
3.0
- noun
- /pəˈliːs ˈkruːzər/
- US
:
patrulla
- Three Santa Monica police cruisers and an ambulance are parked at the curb.
- police cruiser parked
- two police cruisers
- police cruiser dashboard camera
Again, a police cruiser came through and destroyed the flowers.
- Again, a police cruiser came through and destroyed the flowers.
- And to think that folks were burning a New York City Police Department police cruiser like a couple blocks from his house.
- And then the newer type is sort of these mounted mobile units where as you know, a police cruiser or any other vehicle set up with this drives by.
Examples
-
Finally, a police cruiser stopped, and the officer asked if everything was all right.
Fiction book (2000) -
Behind him, Tom could hear more police cruisers approaching the mall.
Fiction book (2001) -
There's a police cruiser in the area.
-
Or maybe the police cruiser idling two cars behind was making him nervous.
Fiction book (2000) -
The blinking lights of a police cruiser were racing toward them.
Fiction book (1999) -
The three police cruisers pull up alongside the tower, aiming their headlights at the 747.
Fiction book (1992) -
Blade and Karen are now standing by Gideon's police cruiser, which is parked outside Karen's apartment.
Fiction book (1998) -
The suspect was apprehended after a chase ending near a parked police cruiser.
-
A police cruiser with flashing lights approached the scene of the accident.
-
He saw a police cruiser driving slowly through the neighborhood during the patrol.
Synonyms
90
1.0
A car used by police to patrol streets and respond to emergencies
45
2.8
A police car that drives around an area to watch for crime
40
2.7
A car police use while patrolling, usually with a radio
32
3.2
A police car that patrols streets
A police car that drives around streets to watch for trouble
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'police' (law enforcement) + 'cruiser' (a patrol car) yields a car used by police for patrolling. This noun–noun compound follows a common productive pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The name police cruiser comes from the word cruise, which means to move around slowly while watching a place. Police cars that did this were called cruisers, so police cruiser now means 'a car used for patrolling'.