American slang for stealing or
pocketing an item, often of
dubious or minor value.
Archaic , dates from the 1950s-1960s, especially popular on the West Coast in those days.
May have been replaced by "rip off" in the late 1960s, which became a much more broad term and eventually a noun as well as a verb.
"I'm not putting my beer down.
One of these biker dudes might cop off with it."
"Where's my hat?"
"That chick you were talking to earlier. I think she
copped off with it."
