"drop a dime" meaning in English

{
  "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"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "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"
        },
        {
          "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"
        },
        {
          "text": "He was in the back for a few minutes. Turned out he was dropping a dime on Ralph."
        }
      ],
      "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": "4 96",
          "word": "dime dropper"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "word": "dime on"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "sense": "to inform on",
          "word": "dime"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "word": "grass up"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "word": "snitch"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "word": "drop a nickel"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "drop a dime"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "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"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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"
    },
    {
      "word": "dime on"
    }
  ],
  "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"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "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"
        },
        {
          "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"
        },
        {
          "text": "He was in the back for a few minutes. Turned out he was dropping a dime on Ralph."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inform",
          "inform"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, with on) To inform, to call the authorities (on)."
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "to inform on",
      "word": "dime"
    },
    {
      "word": "grass up"
    },
    {
      "word": "snitch"
    },
    {
      "word": "drop a nickel"
    }
  ],
  "word": "drop a dime"
}