An informal term for a British policeman.

Low-ranking British police officer. In medieval Europe, a constable was an officer of the king, originally responsible for army stores and stabling, and later responsible for the army in the king's absence. In England the constable subsequently became an official at a sheriff's court of law, leading to the title's current meaning.

A policeman or policewoman.

(Irregular plural: policemen).
1. A member of a police force; SYN. police officer, officer.
2. One held to resemble a policeman.

ETYM Old Eng. scrue, Old Fren. escroue, escroe, female screw, French écrou, Latin scrobis a ditch, trench, in Late Lat., the hole made by swine in rooting; cf. Dutch schroef a screw, German schraube, Icel. skrűfa.
1. A fastener with a tapered threaded shank and a slotted head.
2. A simple machine of the inclined-plane type consisting of a spirally threaded cylindrical rod that engages with a similarly threaded hole.
3. A device with several angled blades that rotates to push against water or air; SYN. screw propeller.
In construction, cylindrical or tapering piece of metal or plastic (or formerly wood) with a helical groove cut into it. Each turn of a screw moves it forward or backward by a distance equal to the pitch (the spacing between neighboring threads).
Its mechanical advantage equals 2 r/P, where P is the pitch and r is the radius of the thread. Thus the mechanical advantage of a tapering wood screw, for example, increases as it is rotated into the wood.
The thread is comparable to an inclined plane (wedge) wrapped around a cylinder or cone. + prikaži više