(~s, ~ping, ~ped)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If a level or amount ~s or if someone or something ~s it, it quickly becomes less.
Temperatures can ~ to freezing at night...
His blood pressure had ~ped severely...
He had ~ped 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 ~ in wages...
N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N in n
2.
If you ~ something, you accidentally let it fall.
I ~ped my glasses and broke them.
VERB: V n
3.
If something ~s onto something else, it falls onto that thing. If something ~s from somewhere, it falls from that place.
He felt hot tears ~ping onto his fingers...
VERB: V prep/adv
4.
If you ~ something somewhere or if it ~s there, you deliberately let it fall there.
Drop the noodles into the water...
...shaped pots that simply ~ into their own container...
Bombs ~ round us and the floor shudders.
VERB: V n prep/adv, V prep/adv, V
~ping
...the ~ping of the first atomic bomb.
N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n
5.
If a person or a part of their body ~s to a lower position, or if they ~ a part of their body to a lower position, they move to that position, often in a tired and lifeless way.
Nancy ~ped into a nearby chair...
She let her head ~...
He ~ped his hands on to his knees.
VERB: V prep/adv, V, V n prep/adv
6.
To ~ is used in expressions such as to be about to ~ and to dance until you ~ to emphasize that you are exhausted and can no longer continue doing something.
She looked about to ~...
VERB: no cont, V emphasis
7.
If a man ~s his trousers, he pulls them down, usually as a joke or to be rude.
A couple of boozy revellers ~ped their trousers.
VERB: V n
8.
If your voice ~s or if you ~ your voice, you speak more quietly.
Her voice will ~ to a dismissive whisper...
He ~ped his voice and glanced round at the door.
VERB: V to n, V n
9.
If you ~ someone or something somewhere, you take them somewhere and leave them there, usually in a car or other vehicle.
He ~ped me outside the hotel...
VERB: V n prep/adv
•
Drop off means the same as ~ .
Just ~ me off at the airport...
He was ~ping off a late birthday present.
PHRASAL VERB: V n P prep/adv, V P n (not pron)
10.
If you ~ an idea, course of action, or habit, you do not continue with it.
The prosecution was forced to ~ the case...
VERB: V n
~ping
This was one of the factors that led to President Suharto’s ~ping of his previous objections.
N-UNCOUNT: N of n
11.
If someone is ~ped by a sports team or organization, they are no longer included in that team or employed by that organization.
The country’s captain was ~ped from the tour party to England.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
12.
If you ~ a game or part of a game in a sports competition, you lose it.
Oremans has yet to ~ a set.
VERB: V n
13.
If you ~ to a lower position in a sports competition, you move to that position.
Britain has ~ped from second to third place in the league.
VERB: V prep/adv
14.
A ~ of a liquid is a very small amount of it shaped like a little ball. In informal English, you can also use ~ when you are referring to a very small amount of something such as a drink.
...a ~ of blue ink...
I’ll have another ~ of that Italian milk.
N-COUNT: oft N of n
15.
Drops are a kind of medicine which you put ~ by ~ into your ears, eyes, or nose.
...eye ~s.
N-PLURAL: oft n N
16.
Fruit or chocolate ~s are small round sweets with a fruit or chocolate flavour.
N-COUNT: usu pl, n N
17.
You use ~ to talk about vertical distances. For example, a thirty-foot ~ is a distance of thirty feet between the top of a cliff or wall and the bottom of it.
There was a sheer ~ just outside my window...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
18.
If you ~ a hint, you give a hint or say something in a casual way.
If I ~ a few hints he might give me a cutting.
PHRASE: V inflects
19.
If you want someone to ~ the subject, ~ it, or let it ~, 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 ~ it...
PHRASE: V inflects
20.
to ~ dead: see dead
at the ~ of a hat: see hat
a ~ in the ocean: see ocean
see also air ~