drop 
deck, (c) The curtain which is dropped or lowered be- 
tween the acts to conceal the stage of a theater from the 
audience. Also called drop-curtain, drop-scene, (d) The 
movable plate which covers the keyhole of a lock, (e) A 
piece of cut glass, sometimes prism-shaped, sometimes 
flat, as if cut out of a sheet of plate-glass, used with others 
like it as a pendent ornament on girandoles, chandeliers, 
etc. (/) A drop-press. (</) A swaging-hammer which falls 
between guides. 
10. In arch., one of the small cylinders or trun- 
cated cones depending from the mutule of the 
Doric cornice and the member upon the archi- 
trave immediately under the triglyph of the 
same order; a trunnel. 11. In maclt., the in- 
terval between the base of a hanger and the 
shaft below. 12. Naut., the depth of a sail 
from head to foot in the middle: applied to 
courses only, hoist being applied to other square 
sails. 13. In fort., the deepest part of a ditch 
in front of an embrasure or at the sides of a 
caponiere. 14. In entom., a small circular 
1778 
drop-light (drop'lit), n. A portable gas-burn- 
er, generally in the form of a lamp, connected 
with a chandelier or other gas-fixture by a 
metallic or flexible tube. 
dropling (drop'ling), n. [< drop + -ling^.J A 
little drop. Davies. [Rare.] 
Eightly to speak, what Man we call and count, 
It is a beamling of Diuinity, 
It is a droplinri of th' Eternall Fount, 
It is a moatling hatcht of th' Vnity. 
Sylvester, Quadrains of Pibrac, St. 13. 
face : used principally in 
of Diptera A drop in tne bucket, an exceedingly 
small proportion. 
The bulk of his [Congreve's] accumulations went to the 
Duchess of Marlborough, in whose immense wealth such 
a legacy was as a drop in the bucket. 
ilacavlay, Leigh Hunt. 
Drop Of stock, in firearms, the bend or crook of the 
stock below the line of the ban-el. Drop serene (a 
literal translation of Latin gutta serena), an old medical 
name for amauroxis. Prince Kupert's drop. Same as 
detonating bulb (which see, under detonating). To get 
the drop, to be prepared to shoot before one's antagonist 
is ready ; hence, to gain an advantage. [Colloq. , western 
IT. S.J 
dropmealt (drop'mel), adv. [< ME. 
< AS. dropmailum, by_drops, < dropa, drop, + 
mcelum, dat. pi. of mail, a portion, time, etc.: 
see meal 1 .'] Drop by drop; in small portions 
at a time. 
Distilling drop-meale a little at once in that proportion 
and measure as thirst requireth. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 2. 
drop-net (drop'net), n. 1. A kind of light 
cross-woven lace. 2. A net suspended from 
a boom and suddenly let fall on a passing school 
of fish. 
dropper (drop'er), n. [< drop + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who or that which drops. Specifically (a) A glass 
tube with an elastic cap at one end and a small orifice at 
the other, for drawing in a liquid and expelling it in drops ; 
a pipette. Also dropping-tube. (6) A reaping-machine that 
deposits the cut grain in gavels on the ground : so called 
to distinguish it from one that merely cuts, or cuts and 
binds. See reaper. 
It causes a Westerner to laugh to see small grain being 
cut with a dropper or a self-raking reaper. 
Sin. Amer., N. S., LV. 373. 
(c) Among florists, a descending shoot produced by seedling 
Drosera 
drop-ripe (drop'rip), . So ripe as to bo ready 
to drop from the tree. Davies. [Kare.] 
The fruit was now drop-ripe, we may say, and fell by a 
shake. Carlyle, Misc., IV. 274. 
drop-roller (drop'ro"ler), H. 1. Same as drop- 
l, ar . 2. In press-work, an inking-roller which 
drops at regulated intervals, with a supply of 
printing-ink, on the distributing-table or dis- 
tributing-rollers. Also known as the dtictor or 
ductor-roller. 
drop-scene (drop'sen), . Same as drop, 9 (c). 
dropseed-grass (drop'sed-gras). n. A name 
given to species of Spttrobolus and Muh lenbergia . 
drop-shutter (drop'shufer), H. In photog., a 
device for rendering the exposure of a plate in 
a camera very brief: used in instantaneous 
photography. The most simple form, also known as 
the guillotine shutter, and the one that gives a name to 
all other appliances of the kind, consists of two opaque 
pieces, each pierced with a hole, and arranged to slide 
one over the other. One of the pieces is fitted over the 
lens-tube, and when the openings in the two pieces are in 
line, the shutter admits light to the camera. When it is 
desired to make a very short exposure, the movable slide 
is raised till the opening of the tube is closed. On let- 
ting the slide fall, the opening in it passes before that in 
the fixed piece, and for an instant light is admitted to 
the plate behind the lens. To accelerate the fall of the 
slide, various devices are used, as springs or elastic bands. 
Improved drop-shutters have the form of revolving disks 
actuated by springs, etc. , or that of nap-shutters controlled 
by a pneumatic device, etc. ; and in many the opening is 
made to take place eccentrically, or the holes in the shut- 
ters are cut of various shapes, with the object of distrib- 
uting the light, and giving a greater volume of light to the 
foreground or the lower portion of the picture, which is 
naturally not so well lighted as the higher portions. 
his own weapon. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 604. 
To have a drop in one's eye, to be drunk. [Slang.] 
Swift, Polite Conversation, i. 
dropax (dro'paks), n. [< Gr. fpuKaS;, a pitch- 
ration for removing hair from the skin ; a de- 
pilatory. [Bare or unused.] 
drop-bar (drop'bar), n. In printing, a bar or 
roller attached to a printing-press for the pur- 
pose of regulating the passage of the sheet to 
impression. In the rotary press the bar drops at a fixed 
time on the edge of the sheet, and with an eccentric re- 
volving motion draws it forward. In some forms of the 
cylinder-press the bar drops on the edge of the sheet and 
holds it firmly in position until it is seized by the grippers. 
Also called drop- roller. 
drop-black (drop'blak), n. See black. 
drop-bottom (drop'bot"um), n. A bottom, as 
of a car, which can be let fall or opened down- 
ward : a common device for unloading certain 
kinds of railroad-cars. 
drop-box (drop'boks), n. In a figure-weaving 
loom, a box for holding a number of shuttles, 
each carrying its own color, and so arranged 
that any one of the shuttles can be brought into 
action as required by the pattern. 
drop-curls (drop'kerlz), n. pi. Curls dropping 
loose from the temples or sides of the head. 
drop-curtain (drop'ker"tan), n. Same as drop, 
9(c). 
drop-drill (drop'dril), n. An agricultural im- 
plement which drops seed and manure into the 
soil simultaneously. See drill*, 3. 
drop-fingers (drop'fing'gerz), n. pi. In print- 
ing, two or more finger-like rods attached to 
some forms of cylinder printing-presses for the 
purpose of holding the sheet in fixed position 
2. In mining, a 
the main lode : nearly the same as feeder, ex- 
cept that the latter more generally carries the 
idea of an enrichment of the lode with which it 
unites. 3. A dog which is a cross between a 
pointer and a setter. 4. An artificial fly ad- 
justed to a leader above the stretcher-fly, used 
m angling. Also called bobber and drop-fly. 
See whip. . 
And observe, that if your droppers be larger than, or 
even as large as, your stretcher, you will not be able to 
throw a good line. /. Walton, Complete Angler, ii. 5, note. 
dropping (drop'ing), n. [< ME. droppynge, < 
AS. dropnng, a dropping, verbal n. of dropian, 
drop: see drop, t>.] 1. The act of falling in 
drops ; a falling. 
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a conten- 
tious woman are alike. Prov. xxvii. 1.1. 
2. That which drops or is dropped : generally 
in the plural. 
Like eager droppings into milk. Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 
All the Countrey is overgrowne with trees, whose drop- 
pings continually turneth their grasse to weeds, by reason 
of the rancknes of the ground, which would soone be 
amended by good husbandry. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 121. 
Specifically 3. pi. Dung: especially said of the 
dung of fowls : as, the droppings of the henroost. 
4. In glass-making, one of the lumps or glob- 
Laguerre towards his latter end grew dropsical and in- 
active. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, IV. i. 
2. Resembling or partaking of the nature of 
dropsy. 
dropsicalness (drop'si-kal-nes), n. The state 
of being dropsical. Bailey, 1727. 
dropsied (drop'sid), a. [< dropsy + -erf 2 .] Dis- 
eased with dropsy; unnaturally swollen; ex- 
hibiting an unhealthy inflation. 
Where great additions swell, and virtue none, 
It is a dropsied honour. Shak., Alls Well, ii. 3. 
(drop'ston), n. A stalactitic variety 
of calcite. See stalactite. 
dropsy (drop' si), n. [Early mod. E. also d ropsie ; 
< ME. dropsy, dropesye, abbr. by apheresis of 
ydropsie, hydropsie : see hydropsy.] 1. In mcd., 
a morbid accumulation of watery liquid in any 
cavity of the body or in the tissues. See edema, 
anasarca, and ascites. 
And lo a man syk in the dropeaye was bifore him. 
Wyclif, Luke xiv. 
Hut the sad Dropxie freezeth it extream, 
Till all the blood be turned into fleam. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
2. In bot., a disease in succulent plants caused 
by an excess of water. 3. In fish-culture, a 
disease of young trout. Before the food-sac is gone 
the trout are often affected with a swelling over the sac, 
where a membrane forms, swells out, and is filled with a 
watery substance. An incision is sometimes made in the 
as drop- 
per, 4. 
drop-forging (drop'for"jing), n. A forging 
produced by a drop-press. 
drop-glass (drop'glas), n. A dropping-tube or 
pipette, used for dropping a liquid into the eye 
or elsewhere. 
drop-hammer (drop 'hara'cr), . Same as drop- 
drop-handle (dropMian^dl), H. A form of 
needle-telegraph instrument in which the cir- 
cuit-making device is operated by a handle 
projecting downward. 
drop-keel (drop'kel), n. Naut., same as center- 
board. [Eng.] 
droplet (drop'let), n. [< drop + -let. ] A little 
drop. 
Though thou abhorr'dst in us our human griefs, 
Scorn'dst our brain's flow, and those our droplets which 
From niggard nature fall. Shak., T. of A., v. 5. 
drop-letter (drop'lef'er), n. A letter intended 
for a person residing within the delivery of the 
post-office where it is posted. [U. S.] 
bination with the volatilized alkalis. The crude 
glass thus formed on the cover drops into the molten glass 
in the vessel, rendering it defective. 
dropping-bottle (drop'ing-bot"l), n. An instru- 
ment for supplying small quantities of water to 
test-tubes, etc.; an edulcorator. 
dropping-tube (drop 'ing -tub), n. Same as 
dropper, 1 (a). 
drop-press (drop'pres), n. A swaging-, stamp- 
ing-, or f orging-machine having either a regular 
or an intermittent motion. It is essentially a power- 
hummer moving between vertical guides, and delivering a 
dead-stroke blow either from its own weight or by weight 
combined with power. In simple machines the weight is 
raised above the anvil by hand by means of a cord, and let 
fall ; but as these machines are wasteful of labor they 
have been largely superseded by power-machines, in which 
the weight is raised by a strap wound over a drum, or by 
a wooden slat pressed between two pulleys revolving in 
opposite directions.or by direct connection with a wrist 
on a disk-wheel. The weight is either released at any 
point of its path by some simple device controlled by a 
lever within reach of the operator's hand or foot, or it 
descends by the movement of the disk. If a spring is 
interposed between the weight and the lifting apparatus, 
whatever its form, to absorb the recoil, it is called a dead- 
stroke- hammer or 'press. In the drop-presses employing 
a strap or other lifting device that is released at the will 
of the operator, the blows are intermittent. Where the 
connection with a wheel is direct, the blows are regular 
and uniform so long as the machine works. All things 
shaped from hot metals on a drop-press, such as small 
parts of machines, are called drop-forffin<ts. The drop- 
press is sometimes called simply press, and sometimes 
drop-hammer. It should not be confounded with the 
stamping-press, which, while it is allied to the drop-press, 
differs essentially in its manner of working. 
lowering weights, and especially for removing 
the wheels of locomotives. 
drop-the-handkerchief (drop ' the -hang ' ker- 
chif ), n. A children's game in which one player 
drop-tin (drop'tin), n. Tin pulverized by be- 
ing dropped into water while melted. 
dropwise (drop'wiz), adv. [< drop + -/.'.] 
After the manner of drops; droppingly; by 
drops. [Rare.] 
In mine own lady palms I cull'd the spring 
That gather'd trickling dropwise from the cleft. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
drop-worm (drop'werm), n. The larva of one 
of many insects. Specifically (a) Of any geometrid 
moth. Also called span-worm, inch-worm, mounting- 
mtrm, etc. (b) Of Thyridopteryx ephfiiiercefonms. Also 
called hang-worm and bag-u'orm. 
dropwort (drop'wert), . An English name for 
the fSpira-a Filipendula False dropwort, an Amer- 
ican book-name for Tiedcmannia teretifoKa, an umbellifer- 
ous plant of the Atlantic States. Hemlock- and water- 
dropwort, common book-names for species of (Enanthe. 
droschka, n. Same as droshky. 
drose, r. i. See drozc. 
Drosera (dros'e-rii), n. [NL., < Gr. Spoaepoc, 
dewy, < <!/)(i(7or,"dew, water, juice, prob. ult. < 
(Skt.) -v/ dru, run.] A genus of plants giving 
name to the order Droseraceai. There are about 
100 species, found in all parts of the globe excepting the 
