hear a pin drop, can

hear a pin drop, can idiom
Be able to hear even the smallest noise because of the quiet, as in When he came onstage you could have heard a pin drop. This hyperbolic expression dates from the early 1800s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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