subs. (common).—A deTECtive: see NARK.
1886. Echo, 4 Dec. I went to Dartford, in Kent, to Whistler’s, so that we should not get picked up by the TECS.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes. I went to the bank with the paper cash, And they said they’d send for a ’TEC.
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, v. ’TECS down, one day, from Scotland Yard to look for dynamit’. Ibid., viii. The depleted brood resist but rarely, for to them the ‘TEC’ is fate.
1901. Pall Mall Gazette, 11 May, 2. 3. This sham ’TEC is in refreshing contrast, considered as an artist, to the sham aristocrat with a preposterous title unknown to Debrett.
