What does "a drop in replacement" mean - English Language ...

If you have a system of parts (e.g. a home computer), and you can pick up one module (e.g. a RAM stick) and "drop in" a new one in its place without fiddling ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Whatdoes"adropinreplacement"mean AskQuestion Asked 7years,8monthsago Active 7yearsago Viewed 10ktimes 14 3 Pleaseseethesecondresponsehere. Youshouldtryxelatexwhichisalmostadropinreplacementfor latex. Leavingasidethetechnicalpart,whichofnointeresttothegeneralaudiencehere,Iaminterestedinknowingwhatdoesthis"almostadropinreplacement"mean? Ihaveageneralfeelingthatthismeanssomethingwhichwilleventually/easilyreplacesomething,butImaybewrong. Wehaveotherquestions(A,B)hereon"drop",buttheyseemtobedifferent. word-usageidioms Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedApr13'17at12:55 CommunityBot 1 askedMar26'14at8:24 MasroorMasroor 79744goldbadges99silverbadges1515bronzebadges 1 10 Thecorrectphraseisdrop-inreplacement. – HelixQuar Mar26'14at8:46 Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 9 Itisnot(adrop)(in)(replacement),butrather(a)(dropin)(replacement). Itissuchagoodreplacementthatyoucouldtakeawaytheoriginal,dropinthereplacement,andnotnoticeit.Well,almost,accordingtothetext. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar26'14at8:32 oerkelensoerkelens 24.7k11goldbadge5656silverbadges7979bronzebadges 6 Isearchedgoogleforthemeaningof"drop-in"andwhatmeaningIgotis"visitedonaninformalbasiswithoutbookingorappointments."Andthatmeaningdon'tworkhere.SoIamcurioustoknownwherefromyougotthismeaning. – Man_From_India Mar27'14at12:23 2 Fromusage.Andyes,thereareothermeaningsaswell.ActuallywhenIlookongoogle,byfarmostofthelinksonthefirstpagefordropinreplacementfitthemeaningIgave.Iamactuallywonderinghowmuchyoutriedtofindanalternative,completelynon-fittingmenaning.HavealookatourneighboursatELU. – oerkelens Mar27'14at12:36 OnlyoneIfound-wordnik.com/words/drop-in – Man_From_India Mar27'14at13:05 IfyoutypedefinedropinreplacementintogoogleyouwillfindtonsofexamplesthatuseitinthesensethatIexplained:) – oerkelens Mar27'14at13:13 Therearetwomeaningsof"dropin"thatcometomind,andyou'vehitonthemboth.Thereis"dropin[tosomeplace]",meaningtovisitwithoutbooking.Andthereis"drop[something]in[toreplacesomethingelse]",whichislesscommon,exceptinidiomslike"drop-inreplacement". – TimPederick May11'14at9:12  |  Show1morecomment 6 Thisissomethingofatechnicalidiom.Ifyouhaveasystemofparts(e.g.ahomecomputer),andyoucanpickuponemodule(e.g.aRAMstick)and"dropin"anewoneinitsplacewithoutfiddlingabout(becausetheconnectionsarethesameandthetwosticksarethesamesize),thenthenewRAMstickisa"drop-inreplacement"fortheoldone. Thephrasehassincebeentransplantedfromthephysicalrealmintothevirtualone,whereapieceofsoftwareorapieceofcodeorreallyanythingmodularcanbe"droppedin"towhereyoutookouttheoriginalthing,withoutsignificantalterationorreconfiguration. So,itexpressesaone-shot,effortlessreplacementofapart. Inthiscase,thesyntaxofthetwoLaTeXesissimilarenoughthatyoucanswitchoverwithouthavingtoupdateyourcode. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredNov7'14at11:36 LightnessRacesinOrbitLightnessRacesinOrbit 1,33099silverbadges1010bronzebadges 4 greatanswer,whynotvisitheresince2014? – AbstProcDo Dec8'17at12:12 @YumiTada:I'vebeenhereplentysince2014. – LightnessRacesinOrbit Dec8'17at17:37 Yourreputationsisof872comparingwith125kofSO. – AbstProcDo Dec9'17at4:45 @YumiTada:MyreputationonSOis251k,not125k. – LightnessRacesinOrbit Dec11'17at13:42 Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedword-usageidioms. 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