"drop a dime" meaning in English

See drop a dime in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-drop a dime.ogg Forms: drops a dime [present, singular, third-person], dropping a dime [participle, present], dropped a dime [participle, past], dropped a dime [past], drop a nickel [alternative]
Etymology: See dime § Etymology 2 Head templates: {{en-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. Tags: idiomatic, slang
    Sense id: en-drop_a_dime-en-verb-lM46zkAr
  2. (slang, with on) To inform, to call the authorities (on). Tags: slang, with-on Related terms: dime dropper
    Sense id: en-drop_a_dime-en-verb-4aOJRYzu Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 12 88 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 17 83 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 14 86 Synonyms: dime, snitch, rat out, grass up, bewray, blow the whistle, clepe [dialectal], denounce, dime [US], dime out [US], dob, drop a dime [US], drop a dime on someone [US], finger, fink [US], fizgig [Australia], inform, inform on, grass on [UK], grass up [UK], lolly up, name names, nark, peach, rat on, rat out, roll on, sing, snitch, snitch up, squeak, squeal, tattle [childish], tell, tell all, tell on [childish], tell tales, tip off, turn in, give up, give away, ;, spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "See dime § Etymology 2",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drops a dime",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropping a dime",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a dime",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a dime",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drop a nickel",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "drop a dime (third-person singular simple present drops a dime, present participle dropping a dime, simple past and past participle dropped a dime)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To make a telephone call."
      ],
      "id": "en-drop_a_dime-en-verb-lM46zkAr",
      "links": [
        [
          "telephone call",
          "telephone call"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, slang) To make a telephone call."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "12 88",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: give [someone] up, give [someone] away; spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              71
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He was in the back for a few minutes. Turned out he was dropping a dime on Ralph.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              128,
              139
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "Who dropped a dime to that newspaper reporter, Your Honor?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "id": "en-drop_a_dime-en-verb-4aOJRYzu",
      "links": [
        [
          "inform",
          "inform"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, with on) To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "3 97",
          "word": "dime dropper"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "dime"
        },
        {
          "word": "snitch"
        },
        {
          "word": "rat out"
        },
        {
          "word": "grass up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "bewray"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "blow the whistle"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "dialectal"
          ],
          "word": "clepe"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "denounce"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "dime"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "dime out"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "dob"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "drop a dime"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "drop a dime on someone"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "finger"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "fink"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "Australia"
          ],
          "word": "fizgig"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "inform"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "inform on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "UK"
          ],
          "word": "grass on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "UK"
          ],
          "word": "grass up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "lolly up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "name names"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "nark"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "peach"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "rat on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "rat out"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "roll on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "sing"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "snitch"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "snitch up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "squeak"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "squeal"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "childish"
          ],
          "word": "tattle"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell all"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "childish"
          ],
          "word": "tell on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell tales"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tip off"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "turn in"
        },
        {
          "word": "give up"
        },
        {
          "word": "give away"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "spill the beans"
        },
        {
          "word": "let the cat out of the bag"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "with-on"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-drop a dime.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2f/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "drop a dime"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "See dime § Etymology 2",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drops a dime",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropping a dime",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a dime",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a dime",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drop a nickel",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "drop a dime (third-person singular simple present drops a dime, present participle dropping a dime, simple past and past participle dropped a dime)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "dime dropper"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make a telephone call."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "telephone call",
          "telephone call"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, slang) To make a telephone call."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: give [someone] up, give [someone] away; spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              71
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He was in the back for a few minutes. Turned out he was dropping a dime on Ralph.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              128,
              139
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "Who dropped a dime to that newspaper reporter, Your Honor?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inform",
          "inform"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, with on) To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "dime"
        },
        {
          "word": "snitch"
        },
        {
          "word": "rat out"
        },
        {
          "word": "grass up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "bewray"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "blow the whistle"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "dialectal"
          ],
          "word": "clepe"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "denounce"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "dime"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "dime out"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "dob"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "drop a dime"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "drop a dime on someone"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "finger"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "fink"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "Australia"
          ],
          "word": "fizgig"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "inform"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "inform on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "UK"
          ],
          "word": "grass on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "UK"
          ],
          "word": "grass up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "lolly up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "name names"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "nark"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "peach"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "rat on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "rat out"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "roll on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "sing"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "snitch"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "snitch up"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "squeak"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "squeal"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "childish"
          ],
          "word": "tattle"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell all"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "tags": [
            "childish"
          ],
          "word": "tell on"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tell tales"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "tip off"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:rat out",
          "word": "turn in"
        },
        {
          "word": "give up"
        },
        {
          "word": "give away"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "spill the beans"
        },
        {
          "word": "let the cat out of the bag"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "with-on"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-drop a dime.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2f/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/En-au-drop_a_dime.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "drop a dime"
}

Download raw JSONL data for drop a dime meaning in English (4.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-11 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (602557e and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.