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drop like flies

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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.

See also: drop, flies, like

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.

See also: drop, flies, like

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.

See also: drop, flies, like