testilying means the act of a police officer giving false testimony (perjury). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “testilying” is a great word
TESTILYING — [Noun] The act of a police officer giving false testimony under oath. A blend of 'testifying' and 'lying,' coined by New York City police officers and appearing in print in 1994 in the report of the Mollen Commission. Unlike "perjury," a broad legal term for any sworn falsehood, or "misleading," which may be unintentional or oblique, testilying is a specific, institutional corrosion. It is the dry lie that "the drugs were in plain view," the rehearsed certainty of a phantom confession, and the spectral detail that materializes in an arrest report—a professionalized betrayal that makes the courtroom just another precinct.
Etymology
Blend of testifying + lying. Coined by New York City police officers, appearing in print in 1994 in the report of the Mollen Commission (see 1994 quotation).
noun
- The act of a police officer giving false testimony (perjury).“Several officers also told us that the practice of police falsification in connection with such arrests is so common in certain precincts that it has spawned its own word: “testilying.“”