English
Etymology
An allusion to the rules of such games as baseball or football.
Verb
to drop the ball
- idiom To fail in one's responsibility|responsibilities or duty|duties, or to make a mistake, especially at a critical point or when the result is very negative.
#*1996, Peter Stack, "Tom and 'Jerry' Make a Great Team (Film review of ''Jerry Maguire'')," San Franciso Chronicle, 13 Dec,
#*:The movie ought to sputter out here, but Crowe and Cruise don't drop the ball.
Synonyms
fuck up
screw the pooch
References
"drop the ball" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
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