drop a brick

To say or do something horrifyingly tactless or indiscreet

like a ton of bricks

Heavily and promptly

like banging (or knocking) one's head against a brick wall

Said of a laborious but unrewarding attempt, eg to persuade, inform, etc

make bricks without straw

1. To try to do a piece of work without the materials necessary for it
2. To make something that will not last

see through a brick wall

To be unusually perspicacious

drop /drop/

noun

1. A small rounded blob of liquid that hangs or falls at one time
2. A very small quantity of liquid
3. Anything hanging like a drop
4. A pendant
5. A small round sweet
6. A curtain dropped between acts (also dropˈ-curˈtain; theatre)
7. (in pl) a medicine taken or applied in drops
8. A fall
9. A vertical descent or difference of level
10. The distance by which something falls or may fall
11. A lowering
12. A landing by parachute
13. An instance of dropping anything
14. An act of repositioning a golf ball from an unplayable position by letting it fall from one's outstretched arm
15. An unpleasant surprise
16. A trap in the gallows scaffold, the fall of which allows the person being executed to drop
17. A device for lowering goods into a ship's hold

combining form

Used of something that drops or that causes something to drop or that is used in or for dropping

intransitive verb (droppˈing; dropped)

1. To fall in drops
2. To let drops fall
3. To fall suddenly, steeply or sheer
4. To let oneself fall gently
5. To sink
6. To lapse
7. To diminish
8. To subside into a condition, come gradually to be
9. To come casually or accidentally
10. To move slowly with the tide

transitive verb

1. To let fall in drops
2. To let fall
3. To let go, relinquish, abandon, part with
4. To omit
5. To lower
6. To lay
7. (of an animal) to give birth to
8. To spot, bespatter, sprinkle
9. To say casually
10. To write and send (a note) in an offhand or informal manner
11. To set down, part with
12. To cause to fall
13. To hole, etc (a ball)
14. To score (a goal) with a drop kick
15. To set down from a vehicle or a ship
16. To cease to associate with
17. To lose (a sum of money or a game as part of a contest)
18. To take one more (shot, stroke) than par (golf)
19. To cause to fall
20. To bring down by a shot

dropˈlet noun

A little drop

droppˈer noun

1. Someone who or something that drops
2. A tube or contrivance for making liquid come out in drops
3. A shoot that grows downwards from a bulb and develops a new bulb (horticulture)
4. A dog, eg a setter, that drops to earth on sighting game
5. An artificial fly attached to the leader (also dropˈfly; angling)

droppˈing noun

1. That which is dropped
2. (usu in pl) dung, excrement

droppˈle noun (rare)

A trickle

dropˈwise adverb

By drops

dropˈ-dead adjective (slang)

Stunning, sensational, breathtaking (also adverb)

dropˈ-down adjective

Denoting a menu on a computer screen that can be accessed by clicking on a button on the toolbar

dropˈ-drillˈ noun

An apparatus for dropping seed and manure into the soil simultaneously

dropˈ-forging noun

The process of shaping metal parts by forging between two dies, one fixed to the hammer and the other to the anvil of a steam or mechanical hammer (dropˈ-forge noun and transitive verb)

drop goal noun (rugby)

A goal secured by a drop kick

dropˈ-hammˈer or dropˈ-press noun

A swaging, stamping or forging machine

drop handlebars plural noun

Bicycle handlebars that curve downwards

dropˈhead coupé noun

A car whose top can be opened

dropˈ-in adjective see drop in below.

drop kick noun

1. A kick made when the ball rebounds from the ground after dropping from the hand (rugby)
2. A kick made by both feet while jumping in the air (wrestling)

dropˈ-kick transitive verb

dropˈ-leaf adjective

(of a desk or table) with a hinged leaf (or leaves) which can be raised or dropped to horizontal position, but lies vertical when not in use

dropˈ-lettˈer noun (old US)

A letter left at a post office merely for local delivery

drop lock or dropˈlock loan noun (finance)

A bank loan for which interest rates vary with the market, but if the long-term interest rates fall to a specified level it is converted to a fixed-rate long-term bond

dropˈ-net noun

A net suspended from a boom, to be suddenly dropped on a passing shoal of fish

dropˈ-off see drop off below.

dropˈout noun

1. A drop kick taken following the defender's touchdown (rugby)
2. A person who has withdrawn from an academic course or from conventional society
3. A patch that fails to record data on a magnetic tape (computing)
4. Failure to reproduce sound from an audio tape or disk due to mechanical interference

droppˈing-well noun (figurative in Tennyson)

A well supplied by water falling in drops from above

dropˈ-ripe adjective

So ripe as to be ready to drop from the tree

dropˈ-scene noun

A drop-curtain (see under drop (n) above)

drop scone or dropped scone noun

A small thick pancake, a Scotch pancake

drop serene noun (Milton)

An old medical name for (a type of blindness) amaurosis, literally translated from L gutta serēna

dropˈ-shot noun (tennis, etc)

A ball made to drop close to the net immediately after clearing it

dropˈstone noun

A stalactitic calcite

drop tank noun (aeronautics)

A tank, esp for fuel, that can be dropped during flight

drop test noun (engineering)

A test of reliability done by dropping the item or component to be tested

dropˈwort noun

A species of Spiraea (S. filipendula) with bead-like root tubercles

drop zone noun

An area where troops or supplies are to be landed by parachute

a drop in the bucket or ocean

An infinitesimally small quantity

at the drop of a hat

1. Immediately
2. On the smallest provocation

drop a brick see under brick

drop a curtsy

To curtsy

drop astern (nautical)

To get left more and more behind

drop away

To depart, disappear

drop dead

1. To die suddenly
2. An interjection expressing refusal, dismissal, defiance, etc

drop down

To sail, move or row down a coast, or down a river to the sea

drop in

(also drop by) to come, fall or set, etc in, or to arrive or visit casually, informally, unintentionally, or one by one (dropˈ-in noun and adjective)

drop-in centre

A day centre run by a charity or the social services for casual callers

drop off

1. To fall asleep
2. To become less, to diminish
3. To depart, disappear
4. (dropˈ-off noun a decline; a delivery of goods)

drop on or drop down on

To single out for reproof or an unpleasant task

drop out

1. To disappear from one's place
2. (of sound) to disappear (during a transmission, etc)
3. To make a drop kick (rugby)
4. To withdraw, esp from an academic course or from conventional life in society (dropˈout noun and adjective)

dropping fire

Unremitting irregular discharge of small arms

drop someone a line (informal)

To write someone a letter

for the drop (informal)

1. About to be relegated
2. About to be hanged

get the drop on one (US)

1. To be ready to shoot first
2. Hence to have at a disadvantage

let drop

To disclose inadvertently, or seemingly so

Prince Rupert's drops or Rupert's drops

Drops of glass that have fallen in a melted state into cold water, and have assumed a tadpole-like shape, the whole falling to dust with a loud report if the point of the tail is nipped off