drop-by
noun
a short and generally somewhat informal visit.
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drop-by
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drop by
drop byAlso,. 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.
drop-by
American
[drahp-bahy]
/ ˈdrɑpˌbaɪ /
noun
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drop-bys
plural
drop by
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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One of Fitts’ sons, Christian, shared a 57-second video on TikTok, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Biden’s drop-by, including the president admiring photos on the family’s fridge and his limo pulling out of their driveway.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
She added that Thomas made a "brief drop-by" at the network summit that year but said he "was not a participant."
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2023
After lunch, Pelosi pops into a drop-by meeting with some of her San Francisco constituents, then heads back to her office to catch President Biden’s speech outlining his budget proposal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
Still, that didn’t lessen the annoyance of what Kimmel declared the “cardinal sin of quarantine”: the random, unannounced neighborly drop-by that you can’t escape, since it’s not like you’re out on the town.
From The Guardian ● May 21, 2020
The 60s poets they go on to write like Frank OHara: fewer drop-by parties, meaner somehow.
From Unmanned by Stephen Oliver
The distillers association reported similar numbers - saying provincial bans have caused exports of American spirits to drop by more than 70%.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the reading to drop by a point to 33.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
The IEA now forecasts that demand will drop by 1.6 million barrels a day in 2026.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Yes, some newcomers might drop by who weren’t aware of practices, but for the most part, Monday is about continuing preparation for a season that begins Aug. 20-22.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
‘This did not drop by chance: it was cast away as a token to any that might follow. I think Pippin ran away from the trail for that purpose.’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
A small, no-reservations-required lounge area is designed for pop-ins and drop-bys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
As of this writing, it’s logged 194 house finch visits, 83 California towhee drop-bys, 5 squirrel sorties and a lone pine siskin pop in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
The candidate has favored meet-and-greets and sporting-event drop-bys that were not widely advertised ahead of time over the kinds of rallies he is holding in the campaign’s final days.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
Weekly drop-bys and frequent sleepovers were replaced with phone calls and FaceTime, and then — as the weather began to warm — with socially distanced, outdoor visits that felt better than nothing but still strange.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2021
Visitors--you get more office drop-bys when you have a weird walking desk than when you have doughnuts--sweetly avert their eyes as the weight question comes up.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
