drop names

(redirected from drop someone's name)

drop names

To mention important people as if they are one's friends or associates, usually in an attempt to receive preferential treatment. A: "I know Jim, the owner, OK?" B: "You can drop names all you want, but you're still not getting into this restaurant any time soon."

See also: drop, name

drop names

and drop someone's name

to mention a name or the names of important or famous people as if they were personal friends. (See also drop someone's name.) Mary always tries to impress people by dropping the name of some big-time executives she claims to know. Bill's such a snob. Leave it to him to drop the names of all the local gentry.

See also: drop, name

drop names

Refer to important persons as acquaintances in order to impress the listener. For example, Her habit of dropping names made everyone very skeptical about her veracity. [Mid-1900s]

See also: drop, name

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.

drop names

refer frequently to well-known people in such a way as to imply that they are close acquaintances.

See also: drop, name

drop ˈnames

mention famous people you know or have met in order to impress others ▶ ˈname-dropping noun: I can’t stand all this name-dropping! Does he really know Brad Pitt?

See also: drop, name

name dropping

Also, to drop names. Mentioning the names of famous persons to imply that one is on familiar terms with them. The term dates from the mid-1900s. J. D. Salinger had an amusing take on it in Franny and Zooey (1962): “There’s an unwritten law that people in a certain social or financial bracket may name drop as much as they like just as long as they say something terribly disparaging about the person as soon as they’ve dropped his name.”