po·lice (p?-l?s?)n. pl. police 1. (used with a pl. verb)a. A body of government employees trained in methods of law enforcement and crime prevention and detection and authorized to maintain the peace, safety, and order of the community.b. A body of persons with a similar organization and function: campus police. Also called police force.2. Archaic Regulation and control of the affairs of a community, especially with respect to maintenance of order, law, health, morals, safety, and other matters affecting the public welfare.3. Informal A group that admonishes, cautions, or reminds: grammar police; fashion police.4. a. The cleaning of a military base or other military area: Police of the barracks must be completed before inspection.b. The soldiers assigned to a specified maintenance duty.tr.v. po·liced, po·lic·ing, po·lic·es 1. To regulate, control, or keep in order with a law enforcement agency or other official group.2. a. To impose one’s viewpoint or beliefs regarding, especially in an authoritarian way: policing others’ comments by implementing speech codes.b. To critique in a presumptuous or arrogant manner: policed the grammar of everyone who commented on the blog post.3. To make (a military area, for example) neat in appearance: policed the barracks.[French, from Old French policie, civil organization, from Late Latin pol?t?a, from Latin, the State, from Greek pol?teia, from pol?t?s, citizen, from polis, city; see pel?- in Indo-European roots.]po·lice?a·ble adj.po·lic?er n.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.police (p??li?s) n1. (Law) a. the police the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etcb. (as modifier): a police inquiry. 2. (Law) (functioning as plural) the members of such a force collectively3. any organized body with a similar function: security police. 4. (Law) archaic a. the regulation and control of a community, esp in regard to the enforcement of law, the prevention of crime, etcb. the department of government concerned with thisvb (tr) 5. (Law) to regulate, control, or keep in order by means of a police or similar force6. to observe or record the activity or enforcement of: a committee was set up to police the new agreement on picketing. 7. (Military) US to make or keep (a military camp, etc) clean and orderly[C16: via French from Latin pol?t?a administration, government; see polity]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014po?lice (p??lis) n., v. -liced, -lic?ing. n. 1. an organized civil force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime, and enforcing the laws. 2. (used with a pl. v.) members of such a force. 3. the regulation and control of a community, esp. for the maintenance of public order, safety, morals, health, etc. 4. the department of a government concerned with this, esp. with the maintenance of order. 5. any body of people employed to keep order, enforce regulations, etc. 6. people who seek to regulate a specified behavior, activity, practice, etc.: the language police. 7. a. the cleaning and keeping clean of a military camp, post, etc. b. the cleanliness of a camp, post, etc. v.t. 8. to regulate, control, or keep in order by or as if by means of police. 9. to clean and keep clean (a military camp, post, etc.). [1520?30; The police are the official organization responsible for making sure that people obey the law. They also protect people and property and arrest criminals.Police is a plural noun. You use a plural form of a verb after it.Be Careful!Don’t refer to an individual member of the police force as a ‘police’. You usually refer to him or her as a police officer. You can also say policeman or policewoman.