take a dive
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To fall or drop down, often intentionally or deceptively
Literally: to plunge into water
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Your boy could have taken the dive for the Mahoney kill.
But advertising is itself extremely volatile and profits could take a dive as easily as they could soar.
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “take a dive” mean?
To fall or drop down, often intentionally or deceptively Literally: to plunge into water
Is “take a dive” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.