Word
harman
Phoneticshar·man
/ˈhɑɹmən/
Definition
n. an old word for a police officer or a judge. It was used hundreds of years ago by criminals to talk about the law.
n. an archaic slang term for a constable or a member of the watch. Historically used in the canting language of thieves and vagabonds.
Examples
“The thief ran away when he saw the harman coming.”
“In the old stories of London's underworld, the beggars would warn each other to hide whenever a harman was spotted nearby.”
“The use of 'harman' in early modern criminal cant illustrates how marginalized groups developed specialized vocabularies to discuss law enforcement without being understood by the general public.”
Examples
simple
“The thief ran away when he saw the harman coming.”
contextual
“In the old stories of London's underworld, the beggars would warn each other to hide whenever a harman was spotted nearby.”
complex
“The use of 'harman' in early modern criminal cant illustrates how marginalized groups developed specialized vocabularies to discuss law enforcement without being understood by the general public.”
Usage
Archaic and historical; primarily found in 16th and 17th-century literature or historical fiction about that period.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/harman