Drops

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /dɹɑps/

Definitions

1. Tiny amounts of liquid falling or dripping ; a reduction or decline in size, amount, or level ; to cause something to fall, often by releasing it from a higher place
2. Small spheres of liquid descending in drops ; the act of lessening or diminishing ; to intentionally let something fall or release it
3. Compressed parcels of liquid moisture that fall from a surface or the sky ; a situation where something becomes less in quantity or intensity ; to deliberately lose or put down an object or substance by releasing it

Etymology: Drops is simply the plural of "drop", a word that has been circulating in English for a thousand years and whose core idea, a small blob of liquid falling, has changed very little. Its ancestor is Old English "dropa", meaning a drop of liquid, and it reaches back through Proto-Germanic "drupô" to an Indo-European root meaning "to drip". Medieval English stretched the word well beyond water: Middle English "droppe" could mean a pendant jewel, a speck or blemish, or a nasal discharge. The verb is just as old. Old English "droppian" meant to fall in drops or drip, and its descendants kept that sense: a ewe dropping a lamb and a dish of fries being dropped into hot oil both preserve the idea of something letting go and falling. Modern English uses of "drop" for a sudden fall or a fall in price are extensions of that same downward motion.

Synonyms: falls, descends, plummets, diminishes, declines

Antonyms: ascends, rises, increases, grows, expands