drop
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: drŏp
ipa: /dɹɒp/
enpr: drŏp
ipa: /dɹɑp/
ipa: [dɹɑp]
ipa: [d͡ʒɹɑp]
rhymes: -ɒp
Forms: form: drops
form: dropping
form: dropped
form: dropped
form: dropt
form: dropt
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: drop
form: drop
form: dropped
form: dropt
form: drop
form: droppest
form: dropped
form: droppedst
form: dropt
form: drops
form: droppeth
form: dropped
form: dropt
form: drop
form: dropped
form: dropt
form: drop
form: dropped
form: dropt
form: drop
form: -
form: dropping
form: dropped
form: dropt
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *dropōn
Old English dropian
Middle English droppen
Proto-Indo-European *dʰrbʰ-néh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *dʰrebʰ-
Proto-Germanic *dreupaną
Proto-Germanic *druppōną
Proto-Germanic *drupô
Proto-West Germanic *dropō
Old English dropa
Middle English droppen
Middle English drope
Middle English droppen
Middle English droppe
English drop
From Middle English droppen, dropen (“to fall in drops, drip or trickle down; to scatter, sprinkle; to be covered with a liquid; to give off moisture; of an object: to drop, fall; of a living being: to fall to the ground”) [and other forms], from Old English dropian, droppian (“to drop”), from dropa (“a drop”) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).
Senses: examples: text: The kindlye dewe drops from the higher tree, / And wets the little plants that lowly dwell.
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 44, verso:
glosses: Of a liquid: to fall in drops or droplets.
examples: text: A single shot was fired and the bird dropped from the sky.
glosses: To fall (straight down) under the influence of gravity, like a drop of liquid.
examples: text: When you defeat this boss, there's a chance a power-up will drop.
text: This item can sometimes drop from chests.
topics: games
gaming
video-games
glosses: To fall (straight down) under the influence of gravity, like a drop of liquid.
Of an item: To appear for the player to pick up, usually after an enemy has been defeated.
examples: text: Drop and give me thirty push-ups, private!
text: If your clothes are on fire, stop, drop, and roll.
glosses: To fall or sink quickly or suddenly to the ground.
examples: text: Nothing, ſays Seneca, is ſo melancholy a circumſtance in human life, or ſo ſoon reconciles us to the thought of our own death, as the reflection and prospect of one friend after another dropping round us!
ref: 1722 September 12, Robert Digby, “[Letters to and from the Hon. Robert Digby. From 1717 to 1724.] Letter X [to Alexander Pope].”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq., volume VIII (Being the Second of His Letters), London: […] J. and P. Knapton […], published 1751, →OCLC, page 43:
glosses: To collapse in exhaustion or injury; also, to fall dead, or to fall in death.
glosses: To fall into a particular condition or state.
examples: text: When he again found privacy consistent, however—and it happened to be long in coming—he took up their conversation very much where it had dropped.
ref: 1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter X, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 108:
glosses: To come to an end (by not being kept up); to lapse, to stop.
examples: text: The stock dropped 1.5% yesterday.
text: We can take our vacation when the price of fuel drops.
text: Watch for the temperature to drop sharply, then you’ll know the reaction is complete.
text: The equipment shows how much the glacier has moved and the amount it dropped in height over the summer.
text: This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 296:
glosses: To decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.
examples: text: My synthesizer makes the notes sound funny when they drop below C2.
text: The song, 180 beats per minute, drops to 150 BPM near the end.
glosses: To decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.
Of a song or sound: to lower in key, pitch, tempo, or other quality.
examples: text: Billy’s voice dropped suddenly when he turned 12.
text: The 18-year-old [Justin] Bieber can’t quite pull off the “adult” thing just yet: His voice may have dropped a bit since the days of “Baby,” but it still mostly registers as “angelic,” and veers toward a pubescent whine at times.
ref: 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020:
glosses: To decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.
Of a voice: to lower in timbre, often due to puberty.
glosses: To fall behind or to the rear of a group of people, etc., as a result of not keeping up with those at the front.
examples: text: Do drop by soon and I’ll lend you that book.
text: We’ll drop in on her tomorrow.
text: He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:
glosses: Usually followed by by, in, or into: of a person: to visit someone or somewhere informally or without a prior appointment.
examples: text: The album Hip-Hop Xmas dropped in time for the holidays.
topics: broadcasting
computing
engineering
entertainment
lifestyle
mathematics
media
music
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
television
glosses: Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution.
examples: text: But more important, if I dropped, Marty would have won the hand automatically.
ref: 1990, Stewart Wolpin, The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle, page 219:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: To drop out of the betting.
topics: medicine
physiology
sciences
glosses: Of the testicles: to hang further away from the body and begin producing sperm due to puberty.
examples: text: The heavens […] dropped at the presence of God.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 68:8:
glosses: To let drops fall; to discharge itself in drops.
examples: text: The recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.
ref: 1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […]:
text: persons, dropping sweat-drops or blood-drops
ref: 1892, Walt Whitman, “(please specify the poem name)”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To drip (a liquid) in drops or small amounts.
examples: text: Don’t drop that plate!    The police ordered the men to drop their weapons.
text: But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.
ref: 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:
glosses: To let (something) fall; to allow (something) to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on).
examples: text: The monsters drop health pickups when killed.
text: When opened, these chests have a chance to drop powerful items.
topics: games
gaming
video-games
glosses: To let (something) fall; to allow (something) to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on).
Of a defeated enemy or container: To leave behind an item that the player can collect.
examples: text: The stare seemed to abash Poirot. He dropped his eyes and began fiddling with the papers in front of him.
ref: 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 129:
glosses: To move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards; to lower.
glosses: To move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards; to lower.
To quickly lower or take down (one's trousers), especially in public.
examples: text: Drop a basket of fries.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards; to lower.
To cook (food, especially fast food), particularly by lowering into hot oil to deep-fry, or by grilling.
examples: text: Here is a simple example: suppose you are in the process of writing a 15-page proposal and at a certain point you decide that, in order to fit all your material, you want to drop the font size from 12 to 11.
ref: 2011, Alexander Mamishev, Sean Williams, Technical Writing for Teams: The STREAM Tools Handbook, page 64:
glosses: To reduce; to make smaller.
examples: text: to drop a lamb
glosses: Of an animal (usually a sheep): to give birth to (young); of a bird: to lay (an egg).
examples: text: The lecturer would drop hints whenever the students struggled.
text: name drop
text: By 1996, ‘jungle’ and ‘drum and bass’ were the words to drop.
ref: 2013 [1998], Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash, new and revised edition, Faber & Faber, →ISBN:
glosses: To mention (something) casually or incidentally, usually in conversation.
examples: text: As she had a free moment, she dropped her a text.
text: Drop me a note when you get to the city.
glosses: To let (a letter, etc.) fall into a postbox; hence, to send (a letter, email, or other message) in an offhand manner.
examples: text: Make any sudden movements and I will drop you!
text: That gang rules the streets, dropping opponents with guns, bombs and other weapons.
text: 1846, ed. by G. W. Nickisson, “Elephant-Shooting in Ceylon”, in Fraser's Magazine, vol. XXXIII, no. CXCVII
page 562: ...if the first shot does not drop him, and he rushes on, the second will be a very hurried and most likely ineffectual one...
page 568 ...with a single shot he dropped him like a master of the art.
text: As with all other animals, a shot behind the shoulder is the most likely to drop the beast on the spot […]
ref: 1892, Alexander A. A. Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Thibet, the Himalayas, Northern and Central India, page 126:
text: He dropped the beast with a bullet in its heart.
ref: 1921, Daniel Henderson, Boone of the Wilderness, page 54:
text: The piano player's out, the music stopped / His boy had beef, and he got dropped...
ref: 1985, Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere”:
text: With a quick clench of the fist on Joey's throat, Bodie dropped him. The man crumpled to the ground […]
ref: 1992, Dan Parkinson, Dust on the Wind, page 164
glosses: To make (someone or something) fall to the ground from a blow, gunshot, etc.; to bring down, to shoot down; to kill.
examples: text: Could you drop me at the airport on your way to work tomorrow?
text: I’ll be dropping the parcel at your place later.
glosses: To set down (someone or something) from a vehicle; to stop and deliver or deposit (someone or something); to drop off.
glosses: To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.
To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.
examples: text: I’m tired of this subject. Will you just drop it?
text: They suddenly dropt the pursuit.
ref: 1739, Samuel Sharp, A Treatise on the Operations of Surgery:
text: The connection had been dropped many years.
ref: 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
text: that astonishing ease with which fine ladies drop you and pick you up again
ref: 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:
glosses: To cease concerning oneself over (someone or something); to have nothing more to do with (a discussion, subject, etc.).
examples: text: I dropped ten pounds and an obnoxious fiancée.
glosses: To dispose or get rid of (something); to lose, to remove.
examples: text: I’ve been dropped from the football team.
text: If Carly Telford’s replacement of Karen Bardsley, because of a hamstring injury, was enforced, the switch to 4-4-1-1 was not. This new-look configuration saw Rachel Daly deployed in front of Lucy Bronze down the right, Toni Duggan and Fran Kirby dropped, Beth Mead introduced on the left and Nikita Parris moved up front.
ref: 2019 July 2, Louise Taylor, The Guardian:
glosses: To cease to include (something), as if on a list; to dismiss, to eject, to expel.
examples: text: I had to drop calculus because it was taking up too much of my time.
text: The specialists she had taken her daughter to see attributed her collection of symptoms to the lingering effect of the many concussions she suffered playing sports. She had at least one concussion every year since she was in the fourth grade. Because of her frequent head injuries, her parents made her drop all her sports.
ref: 2022 October 13, Lisa Sanders, M.D., “She Suffered From Headaches and Fatigue. Were Concussions to Blame?”, in The New York Times Magazine:
glosses: To cancel or cease to participate in (a scheduled course, event, or project).
examples: text: My friends went to the football game, but I skipped, as I had just dropped a lot of money on a new bike wheel.
text: The question was: Who put the most in the collection box? The wealthy guy, who dropped a “C” note, or the tattered old dame who parted with her last tarnished penny.
ref: 1949, The Atlantian, volume 8, Atlanta: United States Penitentiary, page 41:
text: I forked over the $19.25. I was in no position to be dropping twenties like gumdrops but I deserved something good from this crappy morning.
ref: 2000, Lisa Reardon, Blameless: A Novel, Random House, page 221:
glosses: To lose, spend, or otherwise part with (money).
glosses: To pass or use (counterfeit cheques, money, etc.).
examples: text: I drop knowledge wherever I go.
glosses: To impart (something).
glosses: Especially in drop acid: to swallow (a drug, particularly LSD).
examples: text: They dropped the album Hip-Hop Xmas in time for the holidays.
text: That hacker has been threatening to drop my docs [i.e. publish my personal information].
topics: broadcasting
computing
engineering
entertainment
lifestyle
mathematics
media
music
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
television
glosses: To release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public.
examples: text: Cockneys drop their aitches.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To fail to write, or (especially) to pronounce (a syllable, letter, etc.).
examples: text: I love it when he drops his funky beats.
text: That guy can drop the bass like a monster.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To play (a portion of music) in the manner of a disc jockey.
examples: text: Yo, I drop rhymes like nobody’s business.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To perform (rap music).
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To (unexpectedly) lose (a competition, game, etc.).
examples: text: Warne dropped Tendulkar on 99. Tendulkar went on to get a century next ball.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Of a fielder: to fail to dismiss (a batsman) by accidentally dropping a batted ball that had initially been caught.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
sports
glosses: To score (a goal) by means of a drop kick.
examples: text: their waved coats dropped with gold
ref: 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To cover (something) with or as if with drops, especially of a different colour; to bedrop, to variegate.
examples: text: Next, you drop to a shell.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To enter a more basic interface.
examples: text: The next step drops the user to a recovery shell.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To present (the user) with a more basic interface.
examples: text: Drop and give me 20, now!
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: word: knock it down
glosses: To make someone, or be made to do push-ups or some other form of exercise on the ground as punishment.
Derived terms: chop and drop
could hear a pin drop
don't drop the soap
drag and drop
drag-and-drop
drag-drop
drop a bollock
drop a bomb
drop a bombshell
drop a brick
drop a chalupa
drop a clanger
drop-add form
drop a deuce
drop a dime
drop a dime on someone
drop a hint
drop a load
drop a log
drop anchor
drop a nickel
drop astern
drop away
drop-back
drop back
drop-ball
drop bear
drop behind
drop by
drop call
drop-call
drop cap
drop cloth
dropcloth
drop curtain
drop dead
drop-dead
drop dimes
drop-down
drop down
dropfile
drop goal
drophead
drophole
drop-in
drop in
drop into
dropitis
drop kerb
drop-kick
drop kick
drop-kicker
drop-leaf
dropleaf
drop-leaf table
droplifting
drop like a bad habit
drop like a hot brick
drop like a hot potato
drop like a hot skillet
drop like flies
dropoff
drop off
drop-off
drop off the hooks
drop off the radar
drop one's beads
drop one's bundle
drop one's guard
drop one's guts
drop-out
dropout
drop out
droppable
dropped ceiling
dropped egg
dropped goal
dropped head syndrome
dropped scone
dropper
dropping fire
droppingly
dropping point
droppings
drop round
drop scene
drop science
drop scone
drop ship
drop shot
drop someone a line
drop someone in it
drop the ball
drop the bomb
drop the F-bomb
drop the f-bomb
drop the gloves
drop the hammer
drop the hand
drop the H-bomb
drop the kiddies off at the pool
drop the kids off at the pool
drop the mic
drop the pilot
drop the soap
drop the subject
drop the topic
drop the writ
drop-tongue
drop trou
drop trow
jar-dropping
jaw-dropping
let the matter drop
make someone's jaw drop
misdrop
name-drop
name-dropping
one can hear a pin drop
one could hear a pin drop
overdrop
pin-dropping
shadow drop
someone's jaw dropped
so quiet one can hear a pin drop
so quiet one could hear a pin drop
so quiet you can hear a pin drop
the penny drops
undropped
wait for the other shoe to drop