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Glite Dictionary
to drop a dime

to drop a dime

6 9.8
To tell the police about someone's crime, often secretly
  • idiom
  • /drɑp ə daɪm/
  • Slang
: delatar
  • I heard someone is going to drop a dime on the illegal activities happening at the bar.
  • gonna drop a dime

Or they are masterful at blaming other people and will happily drop a dime on an unwitting colleague.

Examples

  • He decided to drop a dime on the gang dealing drugs in the neighborhood.

  • She gonna drop a dime on us?

    Runaway Train (1985)

  • - We just dropped a dime on your boy.

    Stone Cold (1991)

  • Somebody dropped a dime on you, big guy.

    Dark Blue (2002)

  • Well then, Mr. Secret Agent man, I might have to drop a dime on you.

    Dying of the Light (2014)

  • Listen, I'm really sorry she made me drop a dime on you.

    The Rocker (2008)

  • The church should've dropped a dime on this guy 30 years ago.

    Hot to Trot (1988)

  • Busted back in '87 for art fraud and then nothing, until someone dropped a dime on him.

    The Forger (2014)

  • - Well, an informant of mine dropped a dime, said the man almost never misses a matinee at the Bijou.

    The Thirst (2007)

  • Some sleazebag with dirty clothes and a scruffy beard skulking around in the shadows, well, yeah, part of my job was to spot people like that and either roust them myself or call nine-one-one and drop a dime on them.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

to rat out
vsto drop a dime
  • Informal
80 8.6

To tell the police or another authority about someone's bad action, betraying their trust

is more likely to be anonymous rather than direct public exposure
to snitch
vsto drop a dime
  • Slang
51 7.9

To secretly tell the police or a person in charge about someone's bad actions

is usually anonymous and framed as reporting to law enforcement not gossip
to blow the whistle
vsto drop a dime
39 5.1

To tell the authorities or the public about wrongdoing

is usually anonymous and aimed specifically at police rather than public report
to inform
vsto drop a dime
15 6.8

To secretly tell the police about someone's illegal actions

focuses more on notifying police while implying secret betrayal
to dob in
vsto drop a dime
  • UK
1 9.9

To tell the police or a teacher that someone did something wrong

is usually anonymous and specifically targets law enforcement

Antonyms

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

How Betraying

to drop a dime
  • Slang
6 9.8
to snitch
  • Slang
51 7.9
to report
533 1.6
to inform
682 1.0

Surface Forms

drop a dime infinitive
dropped a dime past
dropped a dime past participle
dropping a dime present participle
drops a dime third person singular

Morphology

drop + a + dime

The idiomatic meaning 'to inform the police' cannot be predicted from the literal parts: 'drop' (let fall) and 'a dime' (a ten-cent coin). The expression depends on cultural/historical slang (payphone-era tipping-off) that a B1 learner who simply knows the constituent words would not infer, so it is not compositionally transparent.

Etymology

Drop a dime comes from old payphones that took a dime. People would drop the coin to make a quick, secret call to the police, so the phrase now means 'to inform the police' or 'to betray someone'.