Slangora

redcap

(British, archaic) A European goldfinch, Eurasian goldfinch ().

ˈɹɛdˌkæpDocumented since 1890sSilenthistorical158 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026+ Add a definition
⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
3 definitions
Community

Etymology timeline

Born ~1890 · no dated citations yet
1890BornToday, 2026

Definitions

UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK

(British, archaic) A European goldfinch, Eurasian goldfinch ().

: And beside him Old Redcap sly; —
Was this helpful?

Comments

UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK

(US, rail transport) A porter in a US railway station.

Was this helpful?

Comments

UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK

(British) A member of the Royal Military Police a unit in the British army.

1876: Porter & Coates (pub.), [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0xX5AYwnNuW_isE9h9&id=D9zaWVMVnMwC&pg=PA450&lpg=PA450&dq=%22redcap%22&as_brr=1 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry]
Origin: From . In sense of "porter", 1890s US; compare contemporary , . On Labor Day, 1890, John Williams, an African-American railway porter, tied a red ribbon to his black uniform cap to stand out from the crowd at Grand Central Terminal. The strategy was so successful that it was soon adopted by others in the profession, leading to the synecdochic use of redcap as a term for all railway porters. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
For parents

Redcap means: A member of the Royal Military Police a unit in the British army.. It is military jargon and mostly appears in service contexts, war fiction, or among veterans and their families. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.

For ESL learners

redcap means: A member of the Royal Military Police a unit in the British army.. Register: informal, military jargon. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.

Cluster: approval
Was this helpful?

Comments

Used in

UK

Have a better definition?

Add your own interpretation of "redcap".

Add definition

⚡About Tech, Dev & AI slang

The vocabulary of software engineers, AI researchers, and anyone living in a terminal or on GitHub — from LLM to MCP, CORS to vibe coding, agentic to enshittification.

See all Tech, Dev & AI slang on Slangora.

Tags

Other words near "redcap" (R)

Browse all slang words starting with R.

Related terms

People also read

Semantically related