drop like flies

drop like flies

Meaning

• many people falling ill or dying around the same time
• faint, collapse or die in large numbers
• rapidly decrease in number
• drop out of a group in large numbers

Example Sentences

1. It was flu season and people in our office were dropping like flies.
2. In the beginning, a lot of people signed up for the health program, but after a few months they started dropping like flies.
3. When one of the children in the class got infected, most of the other children started dropping like flies.
4. We had an especially harsh summer this year. The heat was unbearable and people were dropping like flies.
5. The contest was so difficult that the participants were dropping like flies.
6. A mysterious and deadly illness was spreading throughout the region, claiming lives and stretching the healthcare system, as people were dropping like flies.
7. If any one of us catches the virus, all of us will be dropping like flies, so be careful.

Origin
The phrase refers to the short life span of a fly, and also to the fact that they die in large numbers if someone decides to kill them. The earliest printed occurrence is found in newspaper The Atlanta Constitution in May 1902.