paddy wagon

paddy wagon

slang A police vehicle, especially a large van, used to transport criminals or suspects to prison. (Potentially offensive, as "paddy" is a derogatory slang term for an Irish person, though the connection between the two terms is debated.) Nearly two dozen looters were thrown into paddy wagons by police forces trying to quell the riots. After Jeff got drunk and started assaulting a bouncer, he ended his night in the back of a paddy wagon.
See also: paddy, wagon
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

paddy wagon

n. a police van used to take suspected criminals to the police station. The cop put the woman in handcuffs and then called the paddy wagon.
See also: paddy, wagon
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • a rogues' gallery
  • rogues gallery
  • rogues' gallery
  • there is honor among thieves
  • honour among thieves
  • not a shot in your locker
  • not have a shot in (one's) locker
  • hard time
  • thrown
  • up the river
References in periodicals archive
"I saw the two people kissing and thought 'geez, in the back of a paddy wagon - they're keen'," the Northern Territory News quoted her as saying.
But the police didn't realise the float had no brakes and, when they stopped, the float crashed into the back of the paddy wagon.
The cops tried to arrest me and a few other people, but the lock on the paddy wagon wasn't quite locked and we were able to get it open and everyone inside got out and ran.
He told us of others not so fortunate while he was loading our gear into his paddy wagon. Hubbard sat in the back with all the gear, while Busenitz and I sat in front.
"We were following traffic rules when a big police paddy wagon pulled up with its light on.
The songs, written by various members of cast, fizz with snappy and amusing lyrics including the title track, Potatoes In The Paddy Wagon and the deeply moving The Catheter Song.
'We also wrote a song called Potato's in the Paddy Wagon.
``I can only hope my book will make a small contribution toward that day when we'll see one long prep walk of administration officers in handcuffs being led out of the White House and into a waiting paddy wagon.''
23 column by Paul Greenberg in which the Irish are disparaged by his use of the words "paddy wagon."
But Long, who said he was never told why he was asked to leave, was detained in the police paddy wagon for 10 minutes before officials began taking the bodies from the wreck.
(That favorite son of Hell's Kitchen, Pat Moynihan, was raised in a fatherless home.) The Irish, with their high crime rate, gave us the term "paddy wagon." If their seemingly insoluble problems can evaporate in a couple of generations, then who's to say today's black poor are forever doomed?
"There are about a dozen police vehicles at the scene including the region's most senior detective inspectors," she said, "Part of the road has been blocked off and a police paddy wagon with lights flashing is at the property as well." According to the reporter, the property has a small park at the back.
Officers made a number of attempts to stop the vehicle and on Parnell Place a "Paddy Wagon" was positioned across the road to stop the vehicle.
So onto the curb, and into the paddy wagon. Handcuffs pressed painfully into my wrists, my arms locked behind me, shoved into the backseat of a tiny car with two people I've never met.
Jeff Putthoff, then associate pastor of Holy Name Parish, in the back of a paddy wagon. It was in 2003, the United States had just launched Shock and Awe in Iraq and the two were protesting the war.