A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

driver’s license
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drop off • fall off
drop off —
1
. become detached: The handle of the door has
dropped off. 2. become abruptly much lower: The cliff drops
off suddenly here, be careful. 3. (coll.) leave a vehicle; get off:
Thanks for the ride, I’ll drop off here. 4. become less; deteri-
orate: The quality of performance has dropped off since last
year. 5. (coll.) fall asleep: I went to bed early but for some rea-
son I couldn’t drop off. 6. (euph.) die: He would probably
drop off quietly with suppressed gout.
fall off —
1
. = drop off 
1
: My top button has fallen off. 2. =
drop off 2: The land falls off here towards the river. 3. = drop
off 4: Their enthusiasm seems to be falling off a bit. 4. cease
participation: Some of our most loyal members have now
fallen off.
drop out • fall out
drop out—
1
. leave a school, etc. before the end of the course:
He has dropped out, and won’t attend college any more. 2.
(coll.) withdraw (from an undertaking): You can drop out
from the rat race, hoping that you can make it on your own.
3. come out: As she picked up the envelope, a key dropped
out.
fall out—
1
. (Military) leave the ranks: At the end of the pa-
rade, the battalion fell out. 2. quarrel: We’re not going to fall
out over this, are we? 3. come to pass; happen: It fell out that
the men were not needed. 4. = drop out 3: A little roll of dol-
lar-notes fell out upon the ground.
drop the ball • take up the ball
drop the ball —let smth. go wrong; make an embarrassing
error: In my opinion, this is one area where Microsoft has re-
ally dropped the ball when it comes to spam filtering.