Dick-tec-tive. ""fellow, lad, man," 1553, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest Eng. names, They couldn't spell. ... names, it has long been a synonym for "fellow," and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. Meaning "dick" is recorded from 1908, perhaps as a shortened variant of detective.
cowboy...