die like flies
To succumb to a particular problem, often an illness, in large numbers. People will be dying like flies if we are unable to contain this infection. Will city officials only take this outbreak seriously if ordinary people begin to die like flies? A contagious strain like this could leave people dying like flies.
drop like flies
To succumb to a particular problem, often an illness. This phrase is typically only used when more than one person has been adversely affected. Now that the flu is going through our school, people are dropping like flies. The illness seems to be really contagious—everyone I know has been dropping like flies. Once one of your kids gets sick, you know it's only a matter of time until they're all dropping like flies.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
drop like flies
Fig. to faint, sicken, collapse, or die, in great numbers like houseflies dying in a large group. It was a terrible year for the flu. People were dropping like flies.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
drop like flies
Rapidly collapse, die, or drop out, usually referring to a group rather than an individual. For example, The words were so difficult that the spelling bee contestants were dropping like flies. The simile like flies has meant "in large numbers," as it does in this expression, since about 1600.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
die (or drop) like flies
die or collapse in large numbers.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
die/drop/fall like ˈflies
die, become ill, etc. in large numbers: During the epidemic people were dropping like flies.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017