subs. (old).—See DROP-GAME.
Verb (common).—1. To lose, give, or part with.
1819. J. H. VAUX, A Vocabulary of the Flash Language. He DROPPED me a quid. He gave me a guinea.
1849. THACKERAY, Pendennis, ch. xliii. That rascal Blackland got the bones out, and we played hazard on the dining-table. And I DROPPED all the money I had from you in the morning.
1870. London Figaro, 7 June. The money DROPPED by the turf prophets in the investment of advertisments, postage-stamps, and ‘an office for the transaction of the increasing business of their numerous clients,’ is quickly returned to them.
1876. BESANT and RICE, The Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxi. Ladds is hard at work at écarté with a villainous-looking stranger. And I should think, from the way Tommy is sticking at it, that Tommy is DROPPING pretty heavily.
1880. A. TROLLOPE, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxiii. Nobody could have been more sorry than me that your Lordship DROPPED your money.
2. (colloquial).—To relinquish; abandon; leave: e.g., TO DROP AN ACQUAINTANCE = to gradually withdraw from intercourse. Cf., CUT, verb, sense 2. TO DROP THE MAIN TOBY = to turn out of the main road.
1711. Spectator, No. 89. He verily believes she will DROP him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.
1751. SMOLLETT, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxi. They attempted to make a proselyte of me; but finding the task impracticable on both sides, we very wisely DROPPED each other.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ch. xxiv. What do these people mean by asking a fellow to dinner in August, and taking me up after DROPPING me for two years?
1872. DORAN, A Lady of the Last Century. ‘Mrs. Montague, sir,’ said Dr. Johnson, ‘has DROPT me.’
3. (pugilistic).—To knock down. Cf., TO DROP INTO = to thrash.
4. (sporting and duelling).—To bring down with a shot.
1852. F. E. SMEDLEY, Lewis Arundel, ch. v. But when you do make a hit, DROP your man if possible; it settles him and frightens the rest.
TO DROP ANCHOR, verb. phr. (racing).—To pull up a horse.
TO DROP ONE’S ANCHOR, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To sit (or settle) down.
TO DROP A COG.—See DROP-GAME.
TO DROP ONE’S FLAG (colloquial).—To salute; also to submit; to lower one’s colours.
TO DROP, HANG, SLIP, or WALK INTO, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To attack. Cf., DROP ON TO.
1852. DICKENS, Bleak House, ch. xxiv., p. 217. He’s welcome TO DROP INTO me, right and left, if he likes.
1884. Punch, 10 May, p. 217, col. 2. If I ever drop into tune, I deserve to be DROPPED INTO by the critics afterwards.
TO DROP OFF THE HOOKS, verb. phr. (common).—To die. For synonyms, see ALOFT and HOP THE TWIG.
1857. DUCANGE ANGLICUS, pseud. The Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
TO DROP ONE’S LEAF, verb. phr. (common).—To die. [From the ‘fall of the leaf’ in nature.] For synonyms, see ALOFT and HOP THE TWIG.
TO DROP ON ONE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To accuse or call to account without warning. Also = to thrash. Cf., TO DROP INTO.
1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iv. 268. During the weeks or months that the siege is going on, and the plans are working, do the police ever ‘DROP UPON’ the parties and frustrate their plans?
TO DROP THE SCABS IN, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To work buttonholes.
TO DROP ONE’S WAX, or TO DROP A TURD (vulgar).—To evacuate or ‘rear.’
TO GET or HAVE THE DROP ON, verb. phr. (American).—To hold at disadvantage; to forestall.
1888. Troy Daily Times, 8 Feb. I also kept my revolver handy and did not propose that he should GET THE DROP ON me. When he found that I was prepared for him, he did not try to shoot me.
1888. Texas Siftings, Aug. At any rate, we will not let Arcturus GET THE DROP ON the reading public.
TO HAVE A DROP IN THE EYE, verb. phr. (common).—To be slightly drunk. For synonyms, see SCREWED.
1738. SWIFT, Polite Conversation, Dial. i. Neverout. O faith, Colonel, you must own you HAD A DROP IN YOUR EYE, for when I left you, you were half-seas over.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
