the Old Bill

the Old Bill

dated slang The police. Primarily heard in UK. Mickey gave the Old Bill the slip, and now he's on the lam.
See also: bill, old
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the Old ˈBill

(British English, informal) the police: Put it down or I’ll call the Old Bill!
See also: bill, old
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • foot the bill
  • pick up the bill
  • on (one's) bill
  • fill the bill
  • fill the bill, to
  • greenback
  • We were just talking about you
  • can't fight City Hall, one/you/they
  • meet one's Waterloo, to
  • fit the bill
References in periodicals archive
If it was based on the old Bill then most of it has already gone through a lot of amendments.
This amount used to be written simply as 'late payment surcharge' in the old bill therefore, the thing that I like about it is the way it encourages public to save
He said: "I live around here but didn't hear anything, but my dad went past around 3.30, 3.45am and said there was about 20 of the Old Bill here and ambulances too."
The former Westminster Road Police and Fire Station, on Westminster Road, in Kirkdale - which also served time as a well-known match-day pub called The Old Bill - is being transformed into 10 apartments.
In that period, many police officers sported the same whiskers as the cartoon favourite and gained the nickname, The Old Bill. It certainly stuck.
Toys were also donated by Forest members together with the Old Bill & Bull to be delivered in time for Christmas.
The Old Bill and Bull Pub in Coventry Road, for example, was built by Worcester County Council (as a police station) as part of attempting to persuade Yardley to remain in Worcestershire.
But it's precisely because of those youthful years as an over-acting intergalactic heartthrob that we can forgive the old Bill pretending to be, well, Old Bill, despite things getting a little too tight around the waistband for him to really convince as member of LA's finest.
"People are going to be desperately unhappy when they realise how their money is being The old bill...
A little faster than the Old Bill arrived I must say.
Under the old bill, they had only to show they made a "reasonable effort" to get the information elsewhere.
Will C4 give the Old Bill their own all-singing, all-dancing show, for balance?
LOOKS like former Birds of a Feather star Pauline Quirke has got herself into a spot of bother with the Old Bill.
On the economy, Kerry is keen on simply rehiring the old Bill Clinton team, led by Robert Rubin, which sided time and again with Wall Street over Main Street.
So my message to the Old Bill is simple: stay out of our beautiful game and stick to directing traffic and putting up speed cameras.