Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (UK/US Und.) a confidence trick, spec. ring-dropping; also attrib.

1777		J. Fielding Thieving Detected 28: The Drop [...] There is not a fair in England but some of these villains are to be found at it, and so successful are they in their nefarious schemes, that five hundred pounds are as soon got by them.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 237: drop the game of ring-dropping is called the drop.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1812].
1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. I i: Ha! ha! ha! duped again! They have initiated you into the drop business!
1846		N.Y. Herald 28 May 2/4: A young man [...] was arrested [...], charged with coming the ‘drop’ with a pocketbook containing some worthless bank notes.
1860		Atlantic Monthly Dec. 671: Dog-smudging, ring-dropping, watch-stuffing [...] are all terms which have more or less outgrown the bounds of their Alsatia of Thieves’ Latin and are known of men [DA].
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 40: These were a certain drop to a Mexican, a Westerner, or a foreigner.
1992		D. Pinckney High Cotton (1993) 138: ‘Those flimflams are at the Drop again.’ The aim of the scam was to switch their fake bankroll for your real money, or steal your money outright, if they thought you couldn’t run fast enough.

(b) (UK Und.) a confidence trickster.

1848

Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 105: Drops, who go about to public houses to cheat unwary countrymen at cards.

(a) (Aus./UK prison, also the long drop) the gallows, thus by meton. execution by hanging.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: The New Drop a Contrivence for executing Felons at Newgate, which is by means of a platform that drops from under them. The Last Drop. The same .
1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 43: And when an execution’s plann’d, / Close to the Drop I take my stand.
1820		‘Jacko and Judas’ Slop’s Shave at a Broken Hone 30: The bunter muse of Ketch, / Who sings the pious martyrs of the drop, / Their birth, age, parentage, and first transgression, / Their exploits, dying speech, and full confession.
1828		Sussex Advertiser 14 Apr. 4/4: Moaning and praying alternately, he at length reached the drop [...] The drop at length fell as he still prayed.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 107: Never peached upon old Fagin! And why should they? It wouldn’t have loosened the knot, or kept the drop up, a minute longer.
1848		Berks. Chron. 20 May 1/4: The wretched culprit [...] underwent his awful sentence on the public drop this day at noon.
1857		J.E. Ritchie Night Side of London 101: He was on his way to Tyburn drop.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 223/2: On the morning of an execution we beat all the regular newspapers out of the field. [...] We gets it printed several days afore it comes off, and goes and stands with it right under the drop.
1884		Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) 13 Oct. 3/8: The object to be aimed at is the breaking of the neck [...] best accomplished by a ‘long drop’ (ten feet at least).
1890		C. Hindley Vocab. and Gloss. in True Hist. of Tom and Jerry 172: Drop. The gallows, which always provide the last drop.
1892		Inquirer & Commercial News (Perth) 22 June 5/2: Strangulation [...] was really the only form of death in the old method of hanging before the long-drop was introduced.
1905		E.W. Hornung A Thief in the Night (1992) 329: The convict is said to have replied, ‘Why it’s the first thing they’ll ask me at the other end of the drop!’.
1913		H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders (1922) 209: He was too fuddled to get the drop. After a season in jail he was let out on bond.
1934		(con. 1870s) E. Cunningham Triggernometry (1957) 52: A sort of harness, which came up to protect the neck and permitted him to take that long drop.
1939		(con. 1880–90s) S. O’Casey I Knock at the Door 99: Marwood the hangman dancin’ gayly around the giant Joe Brady while his assisstant was tying him up for the drop.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 38: Uncle Clarrie was talking to a warder and he said they’d have given her the drop if they’d had any evidence.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 39: It comes to the morning when he is going to get the drop.
1982		M. Braun Judas Tree (1983) 13: I got back in time to see Frank Yeager take the drop.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 189: drop: [...] another word for the trap-door in the gallows.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 294: Many men had faced ‘the long drop’ at Wandsworth before capital punishment was abolished in 1966.

(b) (also a drop) an advantage.

1869		implied in get the drop(s) (on)
1876		J. Miller First Fam’lies in the Sierras 55: At all events he had the ‘drop,’ and could afford to wait.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 24 May 31/3: ‘City Marshal Collins [...] got the drop on a “moke” who tried to pistol him, and shot the tinted brother’s ear off’.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 33: drop, n. 2. An unfair advantage. 3. An advantage.
1911		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 Days 155: He realized that he was in a tight place unless he obeyed the man with the drop.
1939		H. Miller Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 41: Just being there quiet and alone, and being less strong, less capable of defending myself, gave me the drop on him.
1945		New Yorker 10 Mar. 66: His motion may be so sudden that raising the rifle to the shoulder and firing a shot in the conventional manner will give the Jap the drop [DA].
1953		B. Behan Scarperer (1966) 104: ‘There’s clever men and one sort of them drinks,’ muttered Eddie. ‘Which gives the drop to the ones who don’t,’ said the Limey boozily.
1960		(con. WWII) G. Sire Deathmakers 111: You’re giving the krauts the drop on you.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] ‘And y’all ain’t do shit?! Fuck you had this for?!’ he questioned, snatching the gun off his waist. ‘How?! They had the drop!’ Divine replied. ‘The drop?!’ Gutta smacked the shit out of Divine. ‘Punk bitch, you shoulda died too!’.

(c) see knockout drops n.

(a) (UK Und.) a share of stolen goods or money.

1889

Clarkson & Richardson Police! 321: A share ... Regular, split, drop.

(b) a receiver of stolen goods.

1915		Times 19 Mar. 5/5: The Magistrate. I thought that they called these men ‘fences’. Mr. Pearce. Perhaps the fashion has changed. One usually associates a ‘drop’ with a more serious offence .
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 4: Drop: Receiver of stolen goods.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 232: He located a drop who had been recommended to him and arranged to buy a piece.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 81: It was Jimmy [...] who lined up the fences and the drops.

(c) a delivery, usu. of stolen goods, drugs, contraband etc.

1952		(con. 1920s) G. Fowler Schnozzola 72: A truckman called at an appointed place [...] or a ‘drop’ at a garage.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 122: Did you find out about the drop Caseri and Lujack are supposed to pick up.
1964		L. Hansberry Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in Three Negro Plays (1969) I i: This is the second largest narcotics drop in the city.
1969		J. Crumley One to Count Cadence (1987) 208: I was waiting for him to go make the drop, deliver the two large suitcases sitting between the beds.
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ in Minder [TV script] 48: Honestly, Mr Merrick, I don’t think he made the drop.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 51: I be in touch tomorrow. We still gotta do the cop drop, right?
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 10: The idea being they club together, I do one drop and they do my distribution for me.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 62/1: drop (also drop-oft) n. an unauthorised package of money or contraband given personally to an inmate during visits, or left in a specific place in or near the prison to be collected by an inmate.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 305: Trini had made his drop and gone.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 31: I know to be fully dressed in my Officer’s uniform when I’m making a drop.
2019		Guardian 18 Sept. 🌐 One day, I was going to a drop [...] I was shaking because I had bits on me.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 51: [H]e’s been doing more and more work for Big Time Tommy [...] Mostly it’s strong-arm stuff. Occasionally, it’s a drop.

(d) a hiding-place for stolen, smuggled or illicit goods.

1922		in N.Y. Times 4 June VI 7: ‘Drop’ – The place where the plunder is stored temporarily.
1928		Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/2: ‘A “drop” may be anything from a warehouse, supplying a number of “joints,” to a garbage can in an alley, where a small-time “speakeasy” keeps its stock of drinks,’ said Alexander P. MacPhee, Assistant Prohibition Administrator. ‘Then I have known of “walking drops.”.
1938		J.E. Hoover Persons in Hiding 235: There were number changers, [...] contact men, ‘drop’ or hideout owners.
1949		A. Hynd We Are the Public Enemies 97: The warehouse happened to be the drop of a bootleg ring.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 139: There was a drop in Philly where I could turn that car fast for another one.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 44: A dozen soft scores, crap games like this one, layoff bookies that carry big bankrolls, money drops.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 84: Jimmy always had the unloading drop lined up in advance. It was usually a legitimate warehouse.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 189: drop: a place to deposit stolen goods.
2013		T. Black ‘Long Drop’ in Killing Time in Las Vegas [ebook] We have to collect Lois from the drop — if she has the money we can still make this work.

(e) one who temporarily stores stolen goods immediately after a robbery, but who does not actually buy them from the thief.

1972

P. Fordham Inside the Und. 36: Jim was very careful about planning the drops.

(f) (drugs) a delivery point for drugs or other contraband, e.g. stolen cars.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 21/1: Chief drop, principal receiving place of narcotic traffickers.
1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 138: Ellen’s home was a drop for a narcotics ring.
1961		L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 112: The place was known as a drop – a place for the storage, exchange, sale and delivery of junk.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 22: Drop, n. A place where a connection leaves drugs for someone else to pick up.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 395: You want the new drop address?
1999		Dr Dre ‘Murder Ink’ 🎵 Peeped all the stash drop and exchange of the dough / Lurkin through the turf, think how I’ma just work.
2014		B.P. Rouleau ‘The Ice Cream Snatcher’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Once we get the car to the drop and get our money, we are completely in the clear.

(g) a payment, profit or delivery of money.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 34/1: Drop, money, (kitty) taken from each pot by a gambling house.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 65: She knew she had lost any chance of a ten-shilling drop.
a.1967		‘Sporting Life’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 162: There’s the neighborhood cop at the numbers drop, / Shaking down the run.
1971		E. Wilson Show Business Nobody Knows 4: [E]ach major hotel must ‘win’ $100,000 a night to keep going. If the ‘casino drop’ isn’t $700,000 a week, the hotel is in trouble.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 182: Drops Money (or messages) left in a secret place for collection by another party [...] money left for one’s wife as housekeeping expenses.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 54: Not much of a driver [...] always behind with his rent and his drops.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 33: He does a bank drop every morning.

(h) a place where letters, papers and similar material (usu. secret) can be left for subseq. collection by another person.

1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 78: Al Sutton meets me in a speak-easy we was using as a drop. That’s what the boys called a place where you can get or leave messages or talk things over and not be disturbed.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 29: A grimy tobacco store which fronted for a numbers drop and reefer shop.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 30: [as 1957].
1973		P. Maas Serpico 169: Two plainclothes men [...] soon pinpointed one of his ‘drops’ — a collection place for betting slips and money.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 8: Little Anthony’s, which everyone knew was a numbers drop for most of the neighbourhood.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Drop. A hiding place where illicit goods are deposited, for later retrieval. For example, a visitor may conceal alcohol at a drop. Term may also be used as a verb.

(i) (US drugs) the handing over of drugs, e.g. in the street.

2002

Simon & Burns ‘The Target’ Wire ep. 1 [TV script] Wait on the drop [...] I don’t want no foot-chase.

(a) a bribe.

1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 38: Cops won’t take the drop no more.
1981		(con. c.1910) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 129: Like a good many more boxers that I knew, he would take a drop: he had that terrible habit of letting people bet on him to go down.

(b) the money used for a bribe.

1938

L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 26: He says he daren’t risk taking the drop off us any more.

(c) the money paid to a street beggar.

1933

‘George Orwell’ Down and Out in Complete Works I (1986) 165: You’ll never get a drop off real toffs. It’s shabby sort of blokes you get most off.

(a) (US drugs) the physical discomfort that accompanies withdrawal from crack cocaine.

1989

(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 114: Usually they’re down to their last hit; then they call and expect me to be there before the drop comes.

(b) (drugs) the consumption of a pill or drug, taken orally.

2000

J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 168: Hey, is it the first drop for your two mates as well?