drop

   1. to kill

   By shooting, after which the victim falls:

    But [the Iraqi soldiers] got so close that there was no way they were going to avoid us, so we dropped them. (McNab, 1993)

   In Chicago, to drop down the chute meant to murder, as with the disposal of garbage in an apartment block:

    If he's alive, put him on ice until tonight. Then drop him down the chute. (Weverka, 1973)

   2. a quantity of intoxicant

   Usually of spirits and seeking to imply a moderate consumption:

    The rum came up with the rations and was handed over by the Company-Sergeant-Major. If he liked his little drop, he took his little drop. (F. Richards, 1933)

   Occasionally as a drop of blood:

    'Give me a drop of blood, will you?' The bourbon tasted like linseed oil. (Mailer, 1965)

   A drop on or drop taken indicates intoxication:

    Two of our chaps with a drop on shot all the bottles and glasses in a cafe. (F. Richards, 1933)

    My father was always giving out about it when he had a drop taken. (Flanagan, 1979)

   3. to die

   Usually suddenly, of natural causes. From the falling and a shortened form of drop dead:

    Louie's out mowing the lawn and he drops... Like that. The ticker. (Sanders, 1977)

   The (long) or (last) drop was death by hanging:

    Unlike the festive hangings of earlier times, the drop was performed in church stillness. (Keneally, 1982)

   4. to give birth to

   Usually of quadrupeds but, of women, to drop a bundle meant to have an induced abortion:

    Ask the girls who dropped their bundles... (W. Smith, 1979, writing of such abortions)

   5. a bribe

   Literally, a place where stolen goods are left for collection by a third party:

    Over the years Robbie had made 'drops' to many judges. (Turow, 1999)