"drop" in sports: lose (1884), defeat (1920)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

I noticed these dueling headlines from AP Sports the other day:

        "Celtics Drop 76ers, Eye Atlantic Title"
        "Spurs Drop Blazers, Clinch Southwest Title"

"Drop" is often used by sports headline writers with one of two meanings:
'to lose (a game)' or 'to defeat (a team)', as above.  The 'lose' sense is
in the OED with a first cite of 1961, but the 'defeat' sense is not yet
included (thoug it seems related to OED def. 18, 'to fell with a blow').

The cites below are from a quick search on Proquest headlines -- earlier
examples can no doubt be found without much difficulty.


* drop = 'lose (a game)'

-----
Union Nine Drops Its First Game to the Hun Representatives.
Boston Globe, May 25, 1884, p. 3
-----
Phillies Drop a Game to Buffalo, and New York Gets Away with Cleveland.
Boston Globe, Jun 29, 1884, p. 3
-----
Boston Unions Drop Another Game in Milwaukee.
Boston Globe, Oct 7, 1884, p. 5
-----
The Cricket Club of St. Paul's School Drops a Game to the Longwood Second
Eleven.
Boston Globe, Jun 20, 1885, p. 2
-----
The New Yorks Drop a Game to the Detroits.
Washington Post, Sep 17, 1885, p. 3
-----


* drop = 'defeat (a team)'

-----
Reds Drop Phillies.
Los Angeles Times, Jun 25, 1920, p. III2
-----
Giants Drop Pirates.
Atlanta Constitution, Aug 26, 1921, p. 10
-----
Meusel Helps Giants to Drop Braves Twice.
Washington Post, Apr 20, 1923, p. 12
-----

(The 'defeat' sense appeared in Washington Post headlines quite frequently
during the 1923 baseball season.)


--Ben Zimmer