To get the drop on one is to be able at once to shoot him down; to have him in your power.
1869. So expert is he with his faithful pistol that the most scientific of rogues have repeatedly attempted in vain to get “the drop” on him.—A. K. McClure, ‘Rocky Mountains,’ p. 233 (Phila.).
1883. The men who were always waiting to “get the drop” on somebody, or watching that somebody didn’t get the drop on them.—E. Ingersoll, ‘In a Redwood Logging Camp,’ Harper’s Magazine, lxvi. 208/1 (Jan.). (N.E.D.)
1888. I kept my revolver handy, and did not propose that he should get the drop on me.—Troy Daily Times, Feb. 8 (Farmer).
