drag

[ drag ]

verb (used with object)

, dragged, drag·ging.

1. to draw with force, effort, or difficulty; pull heavily or slowly along; haul; trail:

   They dragged the carpet out of the house.

2. to search with a drag, grapnel, or the like:

   They dragged the lake for the body of the missing man.

3. to level and smooth (land) with a drag or harrow.
4. to introduce; inject; insert:

   He drags his honorary degree into every discussion.

5. to protract (something) or pass (time) tediously or painfully (often followed by out or on ):

   They dragged the discussion out for three hours.

6. to pull (a graphical image) from one place to another on a computer display screen.

verb (used without object)

, dragged, drag·ging.

1. to be drawn or hauled along.
2. to trail on the ground.
3. to move heavily or with effort.
4. to proceed or pass with tedious slowness:

   The parade dragged by endlessly.

5. to feel listless or apathetic; move listlessly or apathetically (often followed by around ):

   This heat wave has everyone dragging around.

   Synonyms: loiter, linger

6. to lag behind.
7. to use a drag or grapnel; dredge.
8. to take part in a drag race.
9. to take a puff:

   to drag on a cigarette.

noun

1. something that retards progress.
2. Aeronautics. the aerodynamic force exerted on an airfoil, airplane, or other aerodynamic body that tends to reduce its forward motion.
3. an act of dragging.
4. slow, laborious movement or procedure; retardation.
5. Slang. someone or something tedious; a bore:

   It's a drag having to read this old novel.

6. a puff or inhalation on a cigarette, pipe, etc.
7. clothing, makeup, and accessories typically associated with one gender when worn by a person of a different gender:

   We went to a Mardi Gras ball where many of the dancers were in drag.

8. a performance art form that is especially associated with LGBTQ+ communities and is characterized by a stylized and exaggerated interpretation of femininity, or sometimes masculinity, that plays with stereotypical gender themes.
9. clothing characteristic of a particular occupation or milieu:

   Two guests showed up in gangster drag.

10. Informal. a street or thoroughfare, especially a main street of a town or city.
11. a drag race.
12. Nautical.
    1. a designed increase of draft toward the stern of a vessel.
    2. resistance to the movement of a hull through the water.
    3. any of a number of weights dragged cumulatively by a vessel sliding down ways to check its speed.
    4. any object dragged in the water, as a sea anchor.
    5. any device for dragging the bottom of a body of water to recover or detect objects.
13. Angling.
    1. a brake on a fishing reel.
    2. the sideways pull on a fishline, as caused by a crosscurrent.
14. Agriculture. a heavy wooden or steel frame drawn over the ground to smooth it.
15. a stout sledge or sled.
16. a four-horse sporting and passenger coach with seats inside and on top.
17. a metal shoe to receive a wheel of heavy wagons and serve as a brake on steep grades.
18. Hunting.
    1. the scent left by a fox or other animal.
    2. something, as aniseed, dragged over the ground to leave an artificial scent.
    3. Also called drag hunt. a hunt, especially a fox hunt, in which the hounds follow an artificial scent.
19. Also called comb. Masonry. a steel plate with a serrated edge for dressing a stone surface.
20. Metallurgy. the lower part of a flask. Compare cope ²( def 5 ).
21. Slang. influence:

    He claims he has drag with his senator.

22. Older Slang. a girl or woman that one takes on a date.

adjective

1. marked by or involving the wearing of clothing, makeup, and accessories typically associated with a different gender:

   They’re so talented at drag makeup.

drag

/ dræɡ /

verb

1. to pull or be pulled with force, esp along the ground or other surface
2. tr; often foll by away or from to persuade to come away (from something attractive or interesting)

   he couldn't drag himself away from the shop

3. to trail or cause to trail on the ground
4. tr to move (oneself, one's feet, etc) with effort or difficulty

   he drags himself out of bed at dawn

5. to linger behind
6. often foll byon or out to prolong or be prolonged tediously or unnecessarily

   his talk dragged on for hours

7. trfoll byout to pass (time) in discomfort, poverty, unhappiness, etc

   he dragged out his few remaining years

8. whenintr, usually foll by for to search (the bed of a river, canal, etc) with a dragnet or hook

   they dragged the river for the body

9. tr foll by out or from to crush (clods) or level (a soil surface) by use of a drag
10. (of hounds) to follow (a fox or its trail) to the place where it has been lying
11. slang.
    intr to draw (on a cigarette, pipe, etc)
12. computing to move (data) from one place to another on the screen by manipulating a mouse with its button held down
13. drag anchor
    (of a vessel) to move away from its mooring because the anchor has failed to hold
14. drag one's feet or drag one's heels informal.
    to act with deliberate slowness
15. drag someone's name in the mud
    to disgrace or defame someone

noun

1. the act of dragging or the state of being dragged
2. an implement, such as a dragnet, dredge, etc, used for dragging
3. Also calleddrag harrow a type of harrow consisting of heavy beams, often with spikes inserted, used to crush clods, level soil, or prepare seedbeds
4. a sporting coach with seats inside and out, usually drawn by four horses
5. a braking or retarding device, such as a metal piece fitted to the underside of the wheel of a horse-drawn vehicle
6. a person or thing that slows up progress
7. slow progress or movement
8. aeronautics the resistance to the motion of a body passing through a fluid, esp through air: applied to an aircraft in flight, it is the component of the resultant aerodynamic force measured parallel to the direction of air flow
9. the trail of scent left by a fox or other animal hunted with hounds
10. an artificial trail of a strong-smelling substance, sometimes including aniseed, drawn over the ground for hounds to follow
11. See drag hunt
12. angling unnatural movement imparted to a fly, esp a dry fly, by tension on the angler's line
13. informal.
    a person or thing that is very tedious; bore

    exams are a drag

14. slang.
    a car
15. short for drag race
16. slang.
    1. women's clothes worn by a man, usually by a transvestite (esp in the phrase in drag )
    2. ( as modifier )

       drag show

       a drag club

    3. clothes collectively
17. informal.
    a draw on a cigarette, pipe, etc
18. slang.
    influence or persuasive power
19. slang.
    a street or road

drag

/ drăg /

1. A force acting on a moving body, opposite in direction to the movement of the body, caused by the interaction of the body and the medium it moves through. The strength of drag usually depends on the velocity of the body.
2. ◆ Drag caused by buildup of pressure in front of the moving body and a decrease in pressure behind the body is called pressure drag . It is an important factor in the design of aerodynamically efficient shapes for cars and airplanes.
3. ◆ Drag caused by the viscosity of the medium as the molecules along the body's surface move through it is called skin drag or skin friction . It is an important factor in the design of efficient surface materials for cars, airplanes, boat hulls, skis, and swimsuits.
4. Compare liftSee Note at aerodynamics

Other Words From

• out·drag verb (used with object) outdragged outdragging

Word History and Origins

Origin of drag¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; 1920–25 drag fordef 20; Middle English; both noun and verb probably from Middle Low German dragge “grapnel,” draggen “to dredge,” derivative of drag- draw; drag defs 22, 24, 38 are obscurely related to other senses and perhaps a distinct word of independent origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of drag¹

Old English dragan to draw ; related to Swedish dragga

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. drag one's feet / heels, to act with reluctance; delay:

   The committee is dragging its feet coming to a decision.

More idioms and phrases containing drag

• a drag
• in drag
• look like something the cat dragged in
• main drag
• wild horses wouldn't drag me

Synonym Study

See draw.

Example Sentences

To get them all passed on time, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. is racing against GOP senators who are trying to drag out the process by forcing time-consuming votes on typically routine procedural steps.

From Salon

“I’m quite cruel to my protagonists. I drag them through the mud, I torture them, they suffer a lot of trauma, but then I reward them at the end.”

From Los Angeles Times

It has now emerged Mr Burns accused Lyons of “dragging his heels” on the project during the meeting.

From BBC

Finnish officials later said the incident had been caused by a Chinese container ship dragging its anchor.

From BBC

It had not been allowed to fire them into Russian territory, for fear that doing so might drag the US and other Nato countries into the war.

From BBC

Related Words

• draw
• lug
• move
• pull
• tow
• transport
• yank