drop a hint
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Give a subtle suggestion or clue about something
Literally: release a small piece of information
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
' Not that I'm dropping hints, darling! '
Hints have been dropped that the two smaller islands, Shikotan and the Habomai rocks, might be returned — in line with the pledge that the Soviet Union made in 1956 but later withdrew.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “drop a hint” mean?
Give a subtle suggestion or clue about something Literally: release a small piece of information
Is “drop a hint” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.