drop a dime

English

Alternative forms

• drop a nickel

Etymology

See dime § Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

drop a dime (third-person singular simple present drops a dime, present participle dropping a dime, simple past and past participle dropped a dime)

1. (idiomatic, slang) To make a telephone call.
2. (slang, with on) To inform, to call the authorities (on).
   • 1995 September 13, Richard Price, Spike Lee, 00:27:05 from the start, in Clockers, spoken by Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks; distributed by Universal Pictures:

     We got a crowd of black, white customers, out-of-state license plates, what have you. Somebody gonna check that out. They gonna drop a dime on me, call 911. And you know with my jacket I can't go back to jail.

   • 2002 July 14, Rafael Alvarez, “One Arrest” (11:51 from the start), in The Wire, season 1, episode 7 (television production), spoken by Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), via HBO:

     Who dropped a dime to that newspaper reporter, Your Honor?

   He was in the back for a few minutes. Turned out he was dropping a dime on Ralph.

Synonyms

• (to inform on): dime, grass up, snitch; See also Thesaurus:rat out

Related terms

• dime dropper
• dime on