Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - drop

(drops, dropping, dropped) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If a level or amount drops or if someone or something drops it, it quickly becomes less. Temperatures can drop to freezing at night... His blood pressure had dropped severely... He had dropped the price of his London home by ?1.25m. VERB: V prep/adv, V, V n • Drop is also a noun. He was prepared to take a drop in wages... N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N in n 2. If you drop something, you accidentally let it fall. I dropped my glasses and broke them. VERB: V n 3. If something drops onto something else, it falls onto that thing. If something drops from somewhere, it falls from that place. He felt hot tears dropping onto his fingers... VERB: V prep/adv 4. If you drop something somewhere or if it drops there, you deliberately let it fall there. Drop the noodles into the water... ...shaped pots that simply drop into their own container... Bombs drop round us and the floor shudders. VERB: V n prep/adv, V prep/adv, V • dropping ...the dropping of the first atomic bomb. N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n 5. 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... She let her head drop... He dropped his hands on to his knees. VERB: V prep/adv, V, V n prep/adv 6. 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. She looked about to drop... VERB: no cont, V c darkgreen]emphasis 7. 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. VERB: V n 8. If your voice drops or if you drop your voice, you speak more quietly. Her voice will drop to a dismissive whisper... He dropped his voice and glanced round at the door. VERB: V to n, V n 9. 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... VERB: V n prep/adv • Drop off means the same as drop. Just drop me off at the airport... He was dropping off a late birthday present. PHRASAL VERB: V n P prep/adv, V P n (not pron) 10. If you drop an idea, course of action, or habit, you do not continue with it. The prosecution was forced to drop the case... VERB: V n • dropping This was one of the factors that led to President Suharto’s dropping of his previous objections. N-UNCOUNT: N of n 11. If someone is dropped by a sports team or organization, they are no longer included in that team or employed by that organization. The country’s captain was dropped from the tour party to England. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 12. If you drop a game or part of a game in a sports competition, you lose it. Oremans has yet to drop a set. VERB: V n 13. 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. VERB: V prep/adv 14. A drop of 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. ...a drop of blue ink... I’ll have another drop of that Italian milk. N-COUNT: oft N of n 15. Drops are a kind of medicine which you put drop by drop into your ears, eyes, or nose. ...eye drops. N-PLURAL: oft n N 16. Fruit or chocolate drops are small round sweets with a fruit or chocolate flavour. N-COUNT: usu pl, n N 17. 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. There was a sheer drop just outside my window... N-COUNT: usu with supp 18. If you drop a hint, you give a hint or say something in a casual way. If I drop a few hints he might give me a cutting. PHRASE: V inflects 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. Mary Ann wished he would just drop it... PHRASE: V inflects 20. to drop dead: see dead at the drop of a hat: see hat a drop in the ocean: see ocean see also air drop DROP BY If you drop by, you visit someone informally. She and Danny will drop by later... He dropped by my office this morning. PHRASAL VERB: V P, V P n