Where does the phrase "You're Nicked!" as supposedly used by the police come from?

Question

Where does the phrase "You're Nicked!" as supposedly used by the police come from?

Answer 1

Define Nicked

Answer 2

Nicked Meaning

Answer 3

The verb "nick" first appeared around 1530, meaning to put a notch in something, then gained extra meanings including "to hit or catch at just the right time". We still have the saying "in the nick of time" with this meaning. By the 17th. century, "nick" had also come to mean "grab".

It was probably the hit/catch/grab meaning which then caused the verb to be used for "steal", the first example appearing in 1869. If people nicked something from a shop, they had to do it very quickly. The verb then also came to mean "arrest", only this time it was the law doing the catching and grabbing, not the thief.

Answer 4

It's a slang term that has come out of other terms.



"You're nicked" is probably a backwards play on "You're going to the nick", an informal term for prison or gaol.



Nick is also a notch or a cut and this may refer to the notches or cuts prisoners made on wooden bedposts or into plastered walls to count off the days they would spend locked up.



But it is probably lost in the annals of history.

Answer 5

i don't think anyone knows the exact origin but it is just slang that has come over the years

Answer 6

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Answer 7

It is, I think, a variant on the theme of 'you're pinched' or 'copped'.



'Nicked' also being slang for 'stolen' or 'taken'.

Answer 8

As far as I can remember, it was used in 'The Sweeney' by John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.

Answer 9

'Nicked' is slang for 'stolen' or 'taken'.

He was arrested/taken/nicked by the police.