Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Slang A van used by police for taking suspects into custody.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A police van for transporting prisoners.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. An enclosed truck used by police to transport prisoners.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. van used by police to transport prisoners
Etymologies
Perhaps from paddy, policeman, from Paddy.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)Supposedly from the term Paddy (a nickname for an Irishman). (Wiktionary)
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
alexz commented on the word paddy wagon
The etymology of the word Paddy refers to the Irish people - either the Irish police officers, or the Irish customers who rode in the back.
May 26, 2013