answersLogoWhite

0

The term "to drop a dime"comes from American street slang. When a drug dealer in the1960s would find it advantageous, they would call the police from a pay phone and snitch on a rival. The cost of a local phone call in the day was 10 cents, thus the term to drop a dime was coined.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago

What else can I help you with?

Related Questions

What is a foreign phrase to dime a dozen?

"To dime a dozen" is incorrect. The phrase is "A dime a dozen" a North American slang phrase. Dime = 5 cents (US) Dozen = 12 of something To imply that something is a dime a dozen implies it is low value, or near worthless.


What does it mean to dime you out?

Rat/Snitch/Narc/drop the dime/tell.


What is dime quien?

In Spanish, "dime quien" translates to "tell me who" in English. It is a phrase used to ask someone to reveal the identity of a person.


What is the sentence for the phrase At the drop of a hat?

The phrase "At the drop of a hat" means to do something immediately or without hesitation. For example, "He would leave for a trip at the drop of a hat."


What does the saying a dime a dozen mean?

There seems to be no record of its first use, but it would have to be after the introduction of the US "dime" coin in 1796.The phrase "a dime a dozen" means that an item or commodity would not be difficult to find or acquire, as it is not highly valued (not that it actually has no value, only that it is common or plentiful).Example : "Screenplays about zombies are a dime a dozen."Example : "Pretty girls come a dime a dozen..." (Shop Around - Miracles, 1960)


What does the term drop a dime mean?

to get an assist in basketball or to make a telephone call like to the police to inform on someone as it used to cost a dime at payphones


What is on the back of a 1937 dime?

The 1937 Mercury Dime has the place where it was minted and the phrase 'One Dime'. It also has a picture of a fasces from the Ancient Roman world.


What is the origin of A dime a dozen?

Meaning anything that is very cheap and plentiful. The phrase originated after the intruduction of the dime in 1796. By the 1800's some foods were plentiful, such as eggs, oranges and peaches and were often sold at the price of a 'dime a dozen'. The phrase passed into common usage for anything that was plentiful, whether it was for food or anything else


Why do they call an assist a dime?

== Headline -- The more likely answer here is that handing out a dime or a dropping a shiny dime comes from the fact that the rich used to actually hand out dimes to help the poor in tough times. Rockefeller, for one, was known to hand out new "shiny dimes" on street corners. This is a hypothesis...but I believe a solid one which seems likely to be the true origin. A suggestion: The word is not infrequently used in the expression "drop n dimes," as in "Chauncey scored 24 points and dropped 8 dimes." The Urban Dictionary website notes that to "drop a dime" (he dropped a dime on George for stealing the car)is slang meaning to turn someone in for a crime (when there were payphones and payphone calls cost a dime!). Dropping a dime is thus assisting in the capture of a criminal, and, by extension, assisting a teammate in a score. Someone named Tom Dalzell sent the American Dialect Society Mailing List a short excerpt from an article by Dan Cahill in the Chicago Sun-Times, March 18, 1994, page 132. It is about a CBS and ESPN analyst named Clark Kellogg, famous for using new and unusual phrases. To quote: "In Kellogg's vernacular, a player doesn't make an assist, he "drops a dime." A really nifty assist is "dropping a shiny dime." Kellogg picked up some of the terms during his college (Ohio State) and NBA (Indiana Pacers) careers, but most of the catchy phrases come from shoot-arounds and summer pickup games."


What is the value of a dime that says one dime on the back?

From 1837 to 2010 all US dimes have the phrase "ONE DIME" on the reverse so if it has a date of 1964 or earlier it's 90% silver and worth at least $1.00 for the silver in it.


What does shes a dime piece mean?

"Dime Piece" itself is a phrase used to say hot, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. So, technicaly it just means that she's beautiful.


Where did the phrase a drop in the bucket come from?

A drop in the bucket comes from the bible reading (Isaih 40:15) where it says "behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."