Word.ws English Dictionary

have the drop on

have the drop on verb: to possess an advantage over another person, by acting before that person.

Verb

have the drop on (third-person singular simple present has the drop on, present participle having the drop on, simple past and past participle had the drop on)

  1. (broadly, informal, transitive) To possess an advantage over another person, by acting before that person.
    • They had the drop on us and I had the feeling normally associated with nakedness. But they did not seem keen to take the plunge.1996, Jim Burtt-Smith, John French, A Drop in the Ocean: Dramatic Accounts of Aircrew Saved From the Sea, Pen and Sword, →ISBN, page 22
    • It was evident that Buck, after coming so near without discovering any remaining signs of life in his intended victim, was totally unprepared for the swift action which had placed him at a disadvantage. Craig unquestionably had the drop on him.1919, Clayton Holt Ernst, The Open Road

Forms of have the drop on

third-person singular presenthas the drop on
present participlehaving the drop on
past participlehad the drop on
pasthad the drop on

Questions about have the drop on

What does have the drop on mean?
Have the drop on means to possess an advantage over another person, by acting before that person.
What part of speech is have the drop on?
Have the drop on is a verb.
What is the past tense of have the drop on?
The past tense of have the drop on is had the drop on.

Words near have the drop on in the dictionary

  1. have the blues
  2. have the cards
  3. have the cards in one's hands
  4. have the dirts with
  5. have the drains up
  6. have the drop on
  7. have the first idea
  8. have the floor
  9. have the foggiest
  10. have the goods on
  11. have the hang of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have 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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