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1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Drop it! phr. (colloquial).—Cease! Cut it! Cheese it (q.v. sense 2).
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xxvi. A jackdaw on the roof brings their hearts into their mouths; were it not for the case-bottle they would drop it even now.
1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. II., ch. xix. You might as well flop as meditate. You may as well go again me one way as another. Drop it altogether.
1872. Public Opinion, 24 Feb., p. 241. 'Inside Newgate.' Do you know Newgate? I said to a cabman whom I hailed in Piccadilly on Saturday afternoon. He looked at me angrily, and briefly answered, drop it.
Drop-game, subs. (old).—A variety of the confidence trick:—The thief picks out his victim, gets in front of him, and pretends to pick up (say) a pocket-book, (snide) which he induces the greenhorn to buy for cash. The object is a Cog, and the operator a Dropper or Drop-cove.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.
Dropped on, adv. phr. (tailors').—Disappointed.
Dropper, subs. (old).—A specialist in the drop-game (q.v.). Also drop-cove.
1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii. 108. [In list of names of thieves.]
Dropping, verb. subs. (old Royal Military Academy).—A beating; 'I'll give you a good dropping i.e., I'll thrash you severely. For synonyms, see Tanning.
Dropping-member, subs. (old).—The penis; specifically one affected with gonorrhœa.
Droppings, subs. (vulgar).—The excrement of horses and sheep.
Drown the Miller.—See Miller.
Drudge, subs. (American).—Whiskey in its raw state, as used in the manufacture of alcohol. For synonyms, see Drinks.
1869. S. S. Haldeman, Pennsylvania Dutch. Drudge, another name for raw whiskey, originating in the Eastern States. I doubt whether the word drudge is thirty years old.
Drug, verb (colloquial).—To administer a narcotic.
A drug in the market, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Anything so common as to be not vendible.
Drum, subs. (old).—1. An entertainment; now a tea before dinner; a kettle-drum (q.v.).
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., ch. vi. A drum, then, is an assembly of well-dressed persons of both sexes, most of whom play at cards and the rest do nothing at all, while the mistress of the house performs the part of the landlady at an inn.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. i. We recollect it well, not so many years ago, lit up for one of those great solemnities which novelists call 'a rout,' but which people in real life, equally martially as well as metaphorically designate 'a drum.'
2. (thieves').—A road, street, or highway. [From the Gr. [Greek: dromox] through the Gypsy drom.]
English Synonyms. Drag; toby; high or main toby; pad; donbite; finger and thumb (rhyming).
French Synonyms. La trime (thieves'); le Général Macadam (popular, also = the public).
