Word.ws English Dictionary

getting the drop on

getting the drop on is the present participle and gerund of get the drop on.

Meaning of get the drop on

Verb

get the drop on (third-person singular simple present gets the drop on, present participle getting the drop on, simple past got the drop on, past participle (UK) got the drop on or (US) gotten the drop on)

  1. (informal, transitive) To point one's firearm at another person, thereby gaining dominance in a situation.
    • He got the drop on them and proceeded to shoot and kill them before they could fire a shot or respond.
  2. (broadly, informal, transitive) To obtain an advantage over another person, by acting before that person.
    • We’re always getting the drop on our competitors because the owner really knows the business and can act fast.
    Synonyms:
    beat to the punch, get the jump on

Questions about getting the drop on

What is getting the drop on the present participle and gerund of?
Getting the drop on is the present participle and gerund of get the drop on.

Words near getting the drop on in the dictionary

  1. getting the chop
  2. getting the dirty water off one's chest
  3. getting the door
  4. getting the drawers
  5. getting the drift
  6. getting the drop on
  7. getting the goods on
  8. getting the hang of
  9. getting the hint
  10. getting the idea
  11. getting the job done

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting the drop on (page history and authors); get the drop on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “getting the drop on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/getting_the_drop_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.