drop like flies
Definition of drop like flies
informal
: to become ill or die over a short period of time and in large numbers Horses and cattle dropped like flies during the drought. The heat was so intense that people were dropping like flies. —often used figuratively Candidates were dropping like flies during the early part of the campaign.
Indulge Your Inner Word Nerd
Word by Word Definitions
: the quantity of fluid that falls in one spherical mass
: a dose of medicine measured by drops
: a minute quantity or degree of something nonmaterial or intangible
: to move in or pass through the air with wings
: to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
: to float, wave, or soar in the air
: the action or process of flying : flight
: a device consisting of two or more radial vanes capable of rotating on a spindle to act as a fan or to govern the speed of clockwork or very light machinery
: flywheel
: to hit a fly in baseball
: any of a large order (Diptera) of winged or rarely wingless insects (such as the housefly, mosquito, or gnat) that have the anterior wings functional, the posterior wings reduced to halteres, and segmented often headless, eyeless, and legless larvae — compare maggot
: a large stout-bodied fly
: a fishhook dressed (as with feathers or tinsel) to suggest an insect
: keen, artful
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up drop like flies? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!