Verb

(dropp)

To fall in droplets (of a liquid).

* Spenser

The kindly dew drops from the higher tree, / And wets the little plants that lowly dwell.

To drip (a liquid).

* Creech

The trees drop balsam.

* Sterne

The recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.

Generally, to fall (straight down).

(ergative) To let fall; to allow to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on).

To let drops fall; to discharge itself in drops.

* Bible, Psalms lxviii. 8

The heavens dropped at the presence of God.

To sink quickly to the ground.

To fall dead, or to fall in death.

* Digby

Nothing, says Seneca, so soon reconciles us to the thoughts of our own death, as the prospect of one friend after another dropping round us.

To come to an end (by not being kept up); to stop.

* 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :

Maisie's faith in Mrs. Wix for instance had suffered no lapse from the fact that all communication with her had temporarily dropped .

To mention casually or incidentally, usually in conversation.

(slang) To part with or spend (money).

* 1949 , The Atlantian , v 8, Atlanta: United States Penitentiary, p 41:

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.

* 2000 , Lisa Reardon, Blameless: A Novel , Random House, p 221:

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.

To cease concerning oneself over; to have nothing more to do with (a subject, discussion etc.).

* S. Sharp

They suddenly drop't the pursuit.

* Thackeray

that astonishing ease with which fine ladies drop you and pick you up again

* Sir Walter Scott

The connection had been dropped many years.

To lessen, decrease, or diminish in value, condition, degree, etc.

* , chapter=17

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=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.}}

To let (a letter etc.) fall into a postbox; to send (a letter or message).

To make (someone or something) fall to the ground from a blow, gunshot etc.; to bring down, to shoot down.

* 1846, ed. by G. W. Nickisson, “Elephant-Shooting in Ceylon”, in , 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.

* 1892 , Alexander A. A. Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Thibet, the Himalayas, Northern and Central India , page 126

As with all other animals, a shot behind the shoulder is the most likely to drop the beast on the spot

* 1921 , Daniel Henderson, Boone of the Wilderness , page 54

He dropped the beast with a bullet in its heart.

* 1985 , (Beastie Boys), :

The piano player's out, the music stopped / His boy had beef, and he got dropped ...

* 1992, Dan Parkinson, Dust on the Wind , page 164

With a quick clench of the fist on Joey's throat, Bodie dropped him. The man crumpled to the ground

(linguistics) To fail to write, or (especially) to pronounce (a syllable, letter etc.).

(cricket, of a fielder) To fail to make a catch from a batted ball that would have lead to the batsman being out.

(slang) To swallow (a drug), particularly LSD.

to dispose (of); get rid of; to remove; to lose

to eject; to dismiss; to cease to include, as if on a list.

(slang) To impart.

(transitive, music, colloquial) To release to the public.

(music) To play a portion of music in the manner of a disc jockey.

(intransitive, music, colloquial) To enter public distribution.

(music) To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.

To cancel or end a scheduled event, project or course

(fast food) To cook, especially by deep-frying or grilling.

(of a voice) To lower in timbre, often relating to puberty.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 26, author=Genevieve Koski, work=The Onion AV Club

, title= Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe , passage=The 18-year-old 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. }}

(of a sound or song) To lower in pitch, tempo, key, or other quality.

(of people) To visit informally; used with in'' or ''by .

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=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.}}

To give birth to.

to drop a lamb

To cover with drops; to variegate; to bedrop.

* Milton

their waved coats dropped with gold

To hang lower and begin producing sperm due to puberty.

Verb

To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

to drive sheep out of a field

* Jowett (Thucyd.)

A storm came on and drove them into Pylos.

(intransitive) To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}

To cause animals to flee out of.

To move (something) by hitting it with great force.

To cause (a mechanism) to operate.

(ergative) To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

To compel (to do something).

To cause to become.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}

(cricket) To hit the ball with a .

To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

To convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

To move forcefully.

* Dryden

Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails.

* Prescott

under cover of the night and a driving tempest

* Tennyson

Time driveth onward fast, / And in a little while our lips are dumb.

* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Mark Vesty, work=BBC

, title= Wigan 2-2 Arsenal , passage=The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny. }}

To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

* Tennyson

enough to drive one mad

* Sir Philip Sidney

He, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much for my horse as fortune had done for his.

To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

* Collier

The trade of life can not be driven without partners.

(Francis Bacon)

To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

* Dryden

to drive the country, force the swains away

(mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

(Tomlinson)

(obsolete) To distrain for rent.