Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also drop of something, …of the necessary, ...of the other) a drink; often as drop of the creature under creature, the n.

1751		Scots Mag. 1 June 19/2: But See! the Gin! Come, come, thou cordial drop!
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 226: We took our drops together at the first vaults we came to.
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry III iii: Law, lovee, no, it’s only some gemmen out on the spree. I dare say dat dey’ll stand a drop o’ summat all round.
1830		Owl (NY) 10 July n.p.: Rikeman was fond of a drop.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 23: Yet, nevertheless, I am sorry to say that Mr. Teazer is too fond of a ‘drop’.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 27 Dec. 2/5: She was kicking up a row at 2 o’clock on Sunday morning in Harrington-street, being rather excited from the drop she had taken.
1849		Sam Sly 31 Mar. 2/2: How about the woman lodger that he keeps, and that goes so often with him to take their drops?
1850		Bristol Times & Mirror 20 Apr. 2/6: Might she not take a ‘drop of it’ in her own house unknown to you.
1867		R. Whiteing Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 3: I was obliged to take a drop o’ summat.
1871		E.K. Wood Dene Hollow I 299: I got a drop too much inside me yesterday afternoon – and my head’s fit to split.
1879		Proc. Old Bailey 26 May 203: I had had a drop, but I knew what I was doing till I was struck.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Aug. 13/3: A Townsville clergyman, a temperance enthusiast, recently said that the ladies ought to give up their ‘little drops’.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Dec. 3/1: When we told Windy Charley to take a drop we didn’t mean that he should take a drop too much.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 24 May 25/1: ‘I’ve had a drop too much,’ said Bibbins, when he fell off an omnibus.
1895		Fanny Wentworth ‘The Coster’s Confession’ 🎵 I ain’t a saint, it’s true, And I likes my drop as well as you.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 162: Drops wa’n’t his long suit; quarts came nearer being his size.
1915		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Lady Friends’ Sporting Times 13 Mar. 1/2: [That] always meant a cup of tea, / And a drop of something in it, if run down he chanced to be.
1940		E. O’Neill Long Day’s Journey into Night II i: A drop now and then is no harm when you’re in low spirits.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 115: Mary had taken Ted to a free house for a bite to eat and a drop of the other.
1947		P. Newton Wayleggo (1953) 149: His cries for a reviver were so pitiful that we conducted an exhaustive search for a drop of the necessary.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 161: It’s [i.e. a brand of beer] a cunt of a drop, if you ask me.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 15: Norton took another swig of beer [...] It’s a good drop’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 68: drop [...] 5. Liquor, as in not a bad drop, meaning it is good. ANZ.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 842: ‘This is a well tasty drop.’ He stretched his neck to read the bottle.

2. (Aus.) a young woman.

1965

J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 79: Sheila. A young female. Also called [...] a ‘fabulous drop’, a ‘slashing line’, a ‘bit of homework’.

3. (Aus.) a good thing.

1968

S. Gore Holy Smoke 82: When they finally get back to Joshua they tell him how this Jericho is the best place that side of the black stump. ‘She’s a good drop,’ they say.