drop by


Also, drop in or over. Pay a brief, casual, and usually unannounced visit. For example, I asked her to drop by whenever she was in the neighborhood, or Joan loves to have friends drop in, or We'd love to drop over but we haven't time on this trip. The first term dates from the first half of the 1900s; drop in is from the mid-1600s and drop over from the late 1800s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use drop by in a sentence

  • Every maitre'd and restaurateur is hoping for a drop-by: After all, the Obama food chain means big bucks.

    First Food Critics | Sandra McElwaine | May 30, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • The ecstasies and agonies of love, the agonies and ecstasies of fear and doubt and drop-by-drop fulfillment, realization.