1848 Rickman Archit. 50*Drop arches..have a radius shorter than the breadth of the arch.
1853 Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 375The *drop bars are rods of iron. .which fall through the joints of the main chains.
1887 Clowes Printing Mach. inProc. Inst. CivilEng. LXXXIX. iii,The dropbar feeding arrangement..a revolving steel bar, on which are fastened two disks..which can by means of screws be shifted to any position..to suit the sheet to be printed.
1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II.Gloss. ,*Drop Bottom, the bottom of a coach, chariot, or chaise body, when sunk deeper than the surface of the framing, to give more room.
1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 44It raises the coals..and delivers them on an elevated railway platform into a waggon—through the drop-bottom of which they are duly distributed among the range of hoppers attached to Stanley's ingenious furnace-feeding machines.
1860 All Year Round No. 53. 63Robert Kay..invented the *drop-box, by means of which three spindles of different coloured wefts could be used successively.
1835 Liberator (Boston) 5 Dec. 196/5 The travellers on whom I bestowed your *drop cakes.
1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen II. ix. 151Trimmer's drop-cakes..are always capital.
1904 S. A. Mussabini Mannock's Billiards I. 336The plain ‘*drop cannon’ which is employed to gather the balls between the two top pockets.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 2 Feb. 12/3He unexpectedly missed a rather wide drop-cannon from hand.
1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. ,*Drop-curls, ringlets.
1832 Examiner 85/1 There is a new *drop-curtain, painted in crimson.
1857 Dickens Lett. 17 Aug.,In order that the piece may be played through without having the drop curtain down.
1934 H. Addison Textbk. Appl. Hydraulics viii. 137 (heading)Falling surface or *drop-down curves.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 267/2Drop-down curve (Hyd. Eng. ), the longitudinal profile of the water surface in the case of non-uniform flow in an open channel, when the water surface is not parallel to the invert.
1951 Catal. of Exhibits, South BankExhib. , Festival of Britain 36/2Gas cooker..with drop-down door.
1847 Raynbird in Jrnl. R.Agric. Soc. VIII. i. 215Using a *drop-drill.
1928 Daily Mail 31 July 1/2 Settee has *drop end.
1960 Measurement of Spectacles (B.S.I.) 18 Dimensions of drop-end sides.
1874 Knight Dict. Mech. ,*Drop-flue Boiler..the object being to cause to leave the boiler at the lower part, where the feed⁓water is introduced. [ the heat]
1870 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §2969When more than one fly is used in fly-fishing, the additional one is called a *drop-fly, and by some a bob..As these flies drop or hang down from the line, so they gain their name of drop-flies.
1921 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Med. Jrnl. Apr. 118 (title)Tendon fixation of *drop foot.
1924 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. LXXXII. 30/1 (caption)Shoe modified for the drop-foot brace.
1925 Ibid. LXXXV. 1927/1Drop-foot is the inability to dorsiflex the ankle joint or foot, and is the result of any agent that impairs or abolishes the muscular power in the anterior group of leg muscles.
1962 D. V. & F. Davies Gray'sAnat. (ed. 33) 1212Paralysis of all the dorsiflexor and evertor muscles of the foot..producing a ‘drop foot’.
1925 Glasgow Herald 15 Jan. 8 A mass of dough, kneaded, *drop-forged, or otherwise assembled into a solid entity.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 555/2Cold drawn steel tubing, with steel *drop forged crown.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 7 Jan. 7/2Cleeks and irons made of drop-forged steel.
1957 Economist 7 Dec. 897/1 The *drop forgers and specialised ironfoundries.
a1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 277/2*Drop forging, one made in that form of press in which the blow is by impact instead of by mere pressure.
1897 Outing ( U.S. ) XXX. 278/2The hammers that are pounding out the drop-forgings.
1909 Engineer CVII. 277 Drop forgings are cheaper and more accurate than hand forgings.
1925 Jrnl. Iron & SteelInst. CXI. 527Recent developments in drop-forging practice.
1959 Ibid. CXCI. 94/3Calculating the power required in drop forging.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 555/1This machine..has our patent duplex *drop frame for ladies' use.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 18 Nov. 9/1In Professor Lilly's triangulated frame will be found an attempt by a skilled engineer to overcome the ‘drop’-frame difficulty.
1906 Bazaar, Exch. & Mart.Suppl. 12 Oct. 1481/2Gentleman's cycle, 23 in. drop frame.
1928 Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 7Another feature demanded by lady drivers is a drop-frame for the divisional window between the front and rear seats.
1898 Cycling 91 The *drop-framed safety.
1934 Webster, *Drop-front adj. , of a desk, having a part of the front formed by a hinged lid or cover which may be lowered to form a writing table.
1951 Good Housek. HomeEncycl. 74/2Two types of door, the drop-front and the side opening, are available.
1876 Preece, etc. Telegraphy §48There are two forms of the single needle instrument in use, viz. the *drop-handle and the pedal or tapper form.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 383/2Drawer drop handles.
1898 J. P. Arkwright Cabinet-Making 84/2Brass drop handles..look well.
1940 Antiquity XIV. 69 Three angons were actually pushed through the drop handle of the larger bowl.
1967 Gloss. Terms Builders' Hardware (B.S.I.) iv. 11Drop handle, any handle pivoted to a plate or spindle so that it falls by gravity to a vertical position when not in use.
1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning xix. 243He then turned the bike sideways, showed off the *drop handlebars with the special grips.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 264Our improved high arm in the new *drop head case.
1903 Sears Catal. (ed. 113) 420We recommend the drop head cabinet for the reason that it serves as a protection for the head, and when closed you have in it a handsome stand or table.
1932 Autocar 28 Oct. 7 ( Advt. ),Romney 2-seater Drop⁓head Coupé.
1934 Times 16 Oct. 7/3 This all-weather car has a patented drop-head which can be folded back by one person without leaving the car.
1936 J. G. Cozzens Men & Brethren ii. 191Bill Jennings sat at the battered drophead desk.
1951 Bookman's Gloss. (R. R. Bowker Co.) (ed. 3) 54*Drop initials, initial letters as tall as two or more lines of text, which lines are indented to allow room.
1963 Punch 9 Oct. 528/2 Elegant drop-initials three inches deep.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 12 May 2/1To steady the boat still further, it carries a water ballast, or a *drop-keel.
1967 J. Severson Great SurfingGloss. ,*Drop-knee, a type of turn where both knees are bent—the trail leg crossed behind the lead leg with the trail-leg knee dropped closer to the board than the knee of the lead leg.
1970 Surf '70 ( N.Z. ) 37/2,I found I had to change from a drop knee turn to a turn with both knees bent and my weight behind my legs.
1895 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 2/1The *drop-ladder was all burnt now, an' the flames pouring out of the trapdoor.
18.. Mrs. Spofford Pilot's Wife,When dark came we would light the *drop-lamp.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 609/2Men's *drop leaf desk.
1966 A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 45The hinge is recessed into the face of the job, e.g. on bureau falls and on drop-leaf tables.
1886 Burton Arab. Nts. I. 5sprang with a *drop-leap from one of the trees. [ He]
1861 Harper's Mag. Nov. 815/2The dark, bright Spanish woman, on the alabaster shade of the *drop-light.
1874 Knight Dict. Mech. ,Drop-light.
1890 Century Mag. Mar. 764/1Reading a calf-bound volume at a drop-light.
1902 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 218/4Electric drop-light shade.
1904 K. C. Thurston John Chilcote viii,The drop-light from the ceiling being directly above his head.
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness xxvi. 158,I..with a *drop-line have taken, in twenty minutes, more trout than I could eat in a fortnight.
1882 Cussans Handbk. Her. xxi. 282It frequently happens when Pedigrees are printed, that space forbids such an arrangement, and that *drop-lines are obliged to be used... The drop-line..shows that Margaret is sister to John and William.
1925 Duo-Art Service Manual 14 *Drop-off screw.
1952 Time 21 Apr., Drop-off point, place where copies of Time come off a plane, train or truck.
1958 College English XX. 16/2 There is no drop-off in volume.
1959 Times 31 Jan. 6/1 The rocket engines are fuelled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and ammonia representing about half the drop-off weight of 31,275 lb.
1897 Stephenson & Suddards Textbk. Orn. Design Woven Fabrics iv. 49This placing or ‘dropping’ of one diamond below another..gives the essence of the *drop pattern.
1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxviii. 41The roote boyled in wine and dronken is good against the *Droppisse, or Strangury. [ of Dropwort]
1864 Webster, *Drop-press, a machine for embossing, punching, etc., consisting of a weight guided vertically, to be raised by a cord and pulley worked by the foot, and to drop on an anvil; called also drop-hammer, or simply a drop.
1888 W. Crane Arts & CraftsCatal. 42One way of concealing the joints of the repeat of the pattern is by..a *drop-repeat, so that, in hanging, the paper-hanger, instead of placing each repeat of pattern side by side, is enabled to join the pattern at a point its own depth below, which..arranges the chief features or masses on an alternating plan.
1883 Standard 28 Mar. 5/2 Thence it passes through the *drop-ring. [ bearing-rein]
1724 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 152He was *drop-ripe for heaven.
1829 Cunningham in Anniversary 6Lips like drop-ripe cherries cleft.
1898 Kennedy & Cohen in W. A. Morgan ‘House’ on Sport 420Saunders..relied on his..*drop service.
1962 Times 8 Jan. 3/7 His cramping drop-service..just gave him the edge.
1887 Scribner's Mag. I. 632/1The *drop-shades were of thick light-blue paper.
1905 Daily Chron. 16 Feb. 8/5A *drop-shelf, with chains attached to one of the panels.
1908 Captain Aug. 453/1 They never practice its antithesis, the *drop-shot. [ sc. the lob's]
1927 Observer 20 Mar. 27/3 Mixing up deep drives and clever drop-shots.
1963 Times 19 Jan. 3/3 He reached the first drop shot only at its second bounce.
1890 Abney Treat. Photogr. (ed. 6) 235The principle of a *drop⁓shutter is the passing of an elongated aperture, cut in a board, over the front of the lens.
1907–8 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 243/3Child's iron and brass cot,..*drop sides with brass top rails.
1959 B.S.I. News Apr. 18/1 Suitable forms of fastening devices for the drop side have been specified, with the intention of preventing the child from lowering it.
1962 Engineering 28 Dec. 839 Dropsides and tailboards for lorries have been made from bonded metal.
1963 Which? Jan. 13 A drop-side cot is probably used more continuously than any other piece of nursery furniture.
1946 Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. XXVII. 162/1Droppable radiosondes..can be dropped by parachute; they emit radio signals... The accuracy of the resulting..data is comparable with similar data from the usual radiosondes... These ‘*drop⁓sondes’ should be quite valuable.
1951 in Meteorol. Abstr. (1952) III. 6 (title)Dropsonde observations.
1963 New Scientist 14 Nov. 396/3 A ‘dropsonde’ to measure low densities and temperatures.
1968 G. M. B. Dobson Explor. Atmos. (ed. 2) ii. 19The instrument is carried up on a small rocket to a height of about 70 km and there released, when it descends on a large parachute... Such instruments are sometimes known as drop-sondes.
1791 W. Jessop Rep. River Witham 14Gates and *Drop-stiles in the cross Fences.
1890 in Amer. Mail Order Fashions (1961) 12Ladies' Black Spun Silk Hose, *drop stitch.
1905 Smart Set Oct. 9/2 Kind o' openwork, like a lady's drop-stitch sock.
1923 Daily Mail 29 June 1/2 ( Advt. ),French Lisle Thread Stockings..Dropstitch design.
1897 Encycl. Sport I. 621/2*Drop-stroke, a stroke by which the ball is made to drop dead, just clearing the net.
1898 Cockayne & Gower in W. A. Morgan ‘House’ on Sport 254A ‘drop’ stroke is a return so soft that it hardly comes off the front wall at all. [ in rackets]
1864 Webster, *Drop-table, a machine for lowering weights, and especially for removing the wheels of locomotives.
1946 Taylor & Allward Spitfire 102/2By carrying a belly *drop tank the range could be increased to around 2,000 miles.
1961 B. Fergusson Watery Maze xvi. 397Drop tanks full of water were flown by a Skyraider from H.M.S. Albion.
1971 Air Pictorial XXXIII. 135/1 In-flight refuelling capability and up to six 600-gal. external drop-tanks can probably double this figure.
1893 Wise & Smart Bibliography of Ruskin I. 189There is no title-page, the ‘*drop-title’ on page 1 reading ‘Memorandum of Association of the Guild of St. George’.
1907 Westm. Gaz. 9 Nov. 12/3The *drop-volley..was one of her favourite strokes.
1927 Daily Express 4 May 13/7 She would leap forward and summarily cut short the rally with a deft drop-volley.
1879 J. M. Duncan Lect. Dis. Women xxxiii. 276There may be on one side no..rhythmic *drop-wave.
1901 Daily News 3 Jan. 6/4 A door with window, and on either side of the latter a *drop window.
1926 Glasgow Herald 26 June 9 The drop-windows permit of ready means of ventilation on warm days.
1860 R. J. Jordan Dis. Skin 18Painters..become affected with ‘lead-colic’ and ‘*drop-wrist’, from having to do with white lead.
1902 H. J. Stiles in D. J. Cunningham Textbk. Anat. 1203The condition known as ‘drop-wrist’, the result of paralysis of the extensor muscles of the forearm.
1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §522/23Drophead, hanger, the headline beneath a ‘streamer’ relating to the same story.
1969 Bodl. Libr. Rec. VIII. 155A single sheet, with drop-head title and no imprint, unrecorded in Wing and in A Gallery, in which Thomas Waite seeks to explain..that he did nothing against Charles I.
1971 Baskette & Sissors Art of Editing viii. 131Later, by indenting lines under the first line they achieved the stepped head, sometimes known as the drop head.
1986 Los Angeles Times 18 Apr. v. 16/4 Vera's story ideas come from folk legend, conversations overheard on the subway, graffiti, drop heads in the Metro section.
1923 C. F. Saunders Southern SierrasCalif. 204It was a climb of many short turns and dizzy drop-offs.
1955 Nat. Geographic July 85/1A dizzying 13-mile drive up the mountainside, around hairpin curves, along harrowing dropoffs, had brought us from a valley floor elevation..to our present altitude.
1969 Guardian 8 Mar. 7/5 Beyond the dropoff of the continental shelf, the waters of the Indian Ocean are clear and dark blue.
1986 T. O'Brien Nuclear Age v. 86There was the strange, somewhat dizzy sensation of moving blindfolded toward a steep drop-off.
1970 Herald (Roselle, Illinois) 12 Oct. i.4 All receipts go into the *drop safe.
2001 E. Schlosser Fast Food Nation iii. 85The leading fast food chains have tried to reduce violent crime by spending millions on new security systems—video cameras, panic buttons, drop-safes, burglar alarms.
ORIGIN: Repr. drop verb, noun .