drop shot

noun

(in tennis, badminton, etc.) a ball or shuttlecock so softly hit that it falls to the playing surface just after clearing the net.

(in squash, handball, etc.) a ball so softly hit that it falls suddenly to the ground just after striking the front wall.

shot made in a shot tower.

Origin

1630-40

Examples from the web for drop shot

drop shot fishing off the bottom is generating some good results.
The art of the drop shot is to make it unexpected and devastating.
Fish move deeper in the summer and fall where they can be caught on drop shot rigs.
drop shot rigs are also working on these fish as well as those found suspended in deep water off points.

British Dictionary definitions for drop shot

drop shot

noun

(tennis) a softly-played return that drops abruptly after clearing the net, intended to give an opponent no chance of reaching the ball and usually achieved by imparting backspin
(squash) a similar shot that stops abruptly after hitting the front wall of the court

a type of shot made by permitting molten metal to percolate through a sieve and then dropping it into a tank of water

Slang definitions & phrases for drop shot

drop case

noun phrase

A stupid person; idiot; turkey: Nobody was a big enough drop case to bet/ Mr Williams called Mr Mallard a drop shot, which had been established as a derogatory term

[1970s+; perhaps fr the notion that a stupid person had been dropped on his head when a baby, with some added connection with the ignominious drop shot in tennis]