drop (drops plural & 3rd person present) (dropping present participle) (dropped past tense & past participle )
1 verb If a level or amount drops or if someone or something drops it, it quickly becomes less.
Temperatures can drop to freezing at night... V prep/adv
His blood pressure had dropped severely... V
He had dropped the price of his London home by £1.25m. V n
Drop is also a noun., n-count usu sing, oft N in n
He was prepared to take a drop in wages...
2 verb If you drop something, you accidentally let it fall.
I dropped my glasses and broke them. V n
3 verb If something dropsonto something else, it falls onto that thing. If something dropsfrom somewhere, it falls from that place.
He felt hot tears dropping onto his fingers... V prep/adv
4 verb If you drop something somewhere or if it drops there, you deliberately let it fall there.
Drop the noodles into the water... V n prep/adv
...shaped pots that simply drop into their own container... V prep/adv
Bombs drop round us and the floor shudders. V
dropping n-uncount usu N of n
...the dropping of the first atomic bomb.
5 verb If a person or a part of their body drops to a lower position, or if they drop a part of their body to a lower position, they move to that position, often in a tired and lifeless way.
Nancy dropped into a nearby chair... V prep/adv
She let her head drop... V
He dropped his hands on to his knees. V n prep/adv
6 verb To drop is used in expressions such as to be about to drop and to dance until you drop to emphasize that you are exhausted and can no longer continue doing something.
no cont (emphasis)
She looked about to drop... V
7 verb If a man drops his trousers, he pulls them down, usually as a joke or to be rude.
A couple of boozy revellers dropped their trousers. V n
8 verb If your voice drops or if you drop your voice, you speak more quietly.
Her voice will drop to a dismissive whisper... V to n
He dropped his voice and glanced round at the door. V n
9 verb If you drop someone or something somewhere, you take them somewhere and leave them there, usually in a car or other vehicle.
He dropped me outside the hotel... V n prep/adv
Drop off means the same as drop., phrasal verb
Just drop me off at the airport... V n P prep/adv
He was dropping off a late birthday present. V P n (not pron)
10 verb If you drop an idea, course of action, or habit, you do not continue with it.
The prosecution was forced to drop the case... V n
dropping n-uncount N of n
This was one of the factors that led to President Suharto's dropping of his previous objections.
11 verb If someone is dropped by a sports team or organization, they are no longer included in that team or employed by that organization.
usu passive
The country's captain was dropped from the tour party to England. be V-ed
12 verb If you drop a game or part of a game in a sports competition, you lose it.
Oremans has yet to drop a set. V n
13 verb If you drop to a lower position in a sports competition, you move to that position.
Britain has dropped from second to third place in the league. V prep/adv
14 n-count A dropof a liquid is a very small amount of it shaped like a little ball. In informal English, you can also use drop when you are referring to a very small amount of something such as a drink.
oft N of n
...a drop of blue ink..., I'll have another drop of that Italian milk.
15 n-plural Drops are a kind of medicine which you put drop by drop into your ears, eyes, or nose.
oft n N
...eye drops.
16 n-count Fruit or chocolate drops are small round sweets with a fruit or chocolate flavour.
usu pl, n N
17 n-count You use drop to talk about vertical distances. For example, a thirty-foot drop is a distance of thirty feet between the top of a cliff or wall and the bottom of it.
usu with supp
There was a sheer drop just outside my window...
18 If you drop a hint, you give a hint or say something in a casual way.
drop a hint phrase V inflects
If I drop a few hints he might give me a cutting.
19 If you want someone to drop the subject, drop it, or let it drop, you want them to stop talking about something, often because you are annoyed that they keep talking about it.
drop the subject/drop it/let it drop phrase V inflects
Mary Ann wished he would just drop it...
20
→
air drop
→
to drop dead
→
dead
→
at the drop of a hat
→
hat
→
a drop in the ocean
→
ocean drop by phrasal verb If you drop by, you visit someone informally.
She and Danny will drop by later... V P
He dropped by my office this morning. V P n drop in phrasal verb If you drop inon someone, you visit them informally, usually without having arranged it.
Why not drop in for a chat?... V P
She spent most of the day dropping in on friends in Edinburgh. V P on n drop off
2 phrasal verb If you drop off to sleep, you go to sleep.
INFORMAL I must have dropped off to sleep... V P to sleep
Just as I was dropping off, a strange thought crossed my mind. V P
3 phrasal verb If the level of something drops off, it becomes less.
(=fall)
Sales to the British forces are expected to drop off... V P drop out
1 phrasal verb If someone drops outof college or a race, for example, they leave it without finishing what they started.
He'd dropped out of high school at the age of 16... V P of n
She dropped out after 20 kilometres with stomach trouble. V P
2 phrasal verb If someone drops out, they reject the accepted ways of society and live outside the usual system.,
(disapproval)
She encourages people to keep their jobs rather than dropping out to live in a commune. V P →
drop-out
air drop (air drops plural & 3rd person present) (air dropping present participle) (air dropped past tense & past participle ), airdrop, air-drop
1 n-count An air drop is a delivery of supplies by aircraft to an area that is hard to get to. The supplies are dropped from the aircraft on parachutes.
2 verb If a country or organization air drops supplies to a place, it drops supplies there from aircraft.
drop-dead
If you describe someone as, for example, drop-dead gorgeous, you mean that they are so gorgeous that people cannot fail to notice them.
INFORMAL adv ADV adj
She said that Campbell-Black was drop-dead gorgeous...
Drop-dead is also an adjective., adj ADJ n
...the drop-dead glamour of the designer decade.
drop goal (drop goals plural )In rugby, a drop goal is a goal that a player scores by dropping the ball and kicking it between the posts. n-count
drop-in
Drop-in centres or services provide information and help for people with particular problems, usually on a free and informal basis. adj ADJ n
...a drop-in centre for young mothers.
drop-out (drop-outs plural ), dropout
1 n-count If you describe someone as a drop-out, you disapprove of the fact that they have rejected the accepted ways of society, for example by not having a regular job., (disapproval)
2 n-count A drop-out is someone who has left school or college before they have finished their studies.
...high-school drop-outs.
3 adj If you refer to the drop-out rate, you are referring to the number of people who leave a school or college early, or leave a course or other activity before they have finished it.
ADJ n
The drop-out rate among students is currently one in three.
name-drop (name-drops 3rd person present) (name-dropping present participle) (name-dropped past tense & past participle )If you say that someone name-drops, you disapprove of them referring to famous people they have met in order to impress people. verb
(disapproval)
The assistant carried on talking to his mate, name-dropping all the famous riders he knew... V n
I must stop saying everyone famous is a good friend. It sounds as if I'm name-dropping. V
name-dropping n-uncount
One can do a lot of name-dropping with names of the school's parents. President Nixon sent his daughters there.
