drop off

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See also: dropoff and drop-off

English

Pronunciation

Verb

drop off (third-person singular simple present drops off, present participle dropping off, simple past and past participle dropped off)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To fall asleep.
    Synonyms: drift off, doze off; see also Thesaurus:fall asleep
    Coordinate terms: sack out; pass out
    After two glasses of whiskey, Tom soon dropped off in front of the television.
    • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close round him all night long.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive, especially US) To deliver; to deposit or leave; to allow passengers to alight.
    Coordinate terms: hand off, hand over, set down, drop, dump out, kick out
    Can you drop the kids off at school?
    I'll drop off your books when I see you tonight.
    • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:
      After dropping off travellers at Foregate Street, my train terminates at Shrub Hill - a station which boasts one of the best selection of semaphore signals left in the country.
  3. To fall off:
    1. (transitive, also figuratively) To drop from, fall from.
      The leaves were slowly dropping off the tree.
    2. (intransitive, also figuratively) To drop, fall.
      Coordinate terms: drop away, drop out, fall away, fall out
      The leaves hung on until the end of November, then dropped off quickly.
  4. (intransitive, figurative) To end a connection with a telephone queue, either by hanging up or after being served or processed.
    As soon as a caller drops off, we'll have an open line and maybe you can reach us then.
  5. (intransitive) To lessen or reduce.
    Synonym: fall off
    Near-synonyms: taper off, dwindle
    Sales have dropped off in recent months.
  6. (intransitive, slang, dated) To die.
  7. (slang) To abandon or give up on (something); to be abandoned or given up on.
    My lawyer said some of those charges will be dropped off.
    If you ignore them, the fees won't just drop off.

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