• Drag

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /dɹæɡ/
    • Rhymes: -æɡ

    Origin 1

    From Middle English draggen ("to drag"), early Middle English dragen ("to draw, carry"), confluence of Old English dragan ("to drag, draw, draw oneself, go, protract") and Old Norse draga ("to draw, attract"); both from Proto-Germanic *draganą ("to draw, drag"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerāgʰ- ("to draw, drag"). Verb sense influenced due to association with the noun drag ("that which is hauled or dragged"), related to Low German dragge ("a drag-anchor, grapnel"). Cognate with Danish drægge ("to dredge"), Danish drage ("to draw, attract"), Swedish dragga ("to drag, drag anchor, sweep"), Swedish draga ("to draw, go"), Icelandic draga ("to drag, pull"). More at draw.

    Full definition of drag

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.
    2. (intransitive) To move slowly.
      Time seems to drag when you’re waiting for a bus.
    3. To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant.
      • 2013, James R. Carter, Flowers and Ribbons of Ice, Dragging yourself out of a warm bed in the early hours of a wintry morning to go for a hike in the woods: It’s not an easy thing for some to do, but the visual treasures that await could be well worth the effort. If the weather conditions and the local flora are just right, you might come across fleeting, delicate frozen formations sprouting from certain plant stems, literally a garden of ice.
    4. To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
      • ByronThe day drags through, though storms keep out the sun.
      • GayLong, open panegyric drags at best.
    5. To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.
      • Drydenhave dragged a lingering life
    6. To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.
      • RussellA propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her.
    7. (computing) To move (an item) on the computer display by means of a mouse or other input device.
      Drag the file into the window to open it.
    8. To unintentionally rub or scrape on a surface.
      The car's loose muffler was dragging on the road.
    9. To perform as a drag queen or drag king.
    10. (soccer) To hit or kick off target.
    11. To fish with a dragnet.
    12. To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow.
    13. (figurative) To search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet.
      • Tennysonwhile I dragged my brains for such a song

    Derived terms

    Related terms

    Noun

    drag

    (countable and uncountable; plural drags)
    1. (uncountable) Resistance of the air (or some other fluid) to something moving through it.When designing cars, manufacturers have to take drag into consideration.
    2. (countable, foundry) The bottom part of a sand casting mold.
    3. (countable) A device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing.
    4. (countable, informal) A puff on a cigarette or joint.
    5. (countable, slang) Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.Travelling to work in the rush hour is a real drag.
      • J. D. ForbesMy lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.
    6. (countable, slang) Someone or something that is disappointing.
    7. (countable, slang) Horse-drawn wagon or buggy. from mid-18th c.
    8. (countable, slang) Street, as in 'main drag'. from mid-19th c.
    9. (countable) The scent-path left by dragging a fox, for training hounds to follow scents.to run a drag
    10. (countable, snooker) A large amount of backspin on the cue ball, causing the cue ball to slow down.
    11. A heavy harrow for breaking up ground.
    12. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy objects; also, a kind of low car or handcart.a stone drag
    13. (metallurgy) The bottom part of a flask or mould, the upper part being the cope.
    14. (masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.
    15. (nautical) The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel.
    16. Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; especially, a canvas bag with a hooped mouth (drag sail), so used.
    17. A skid or shoe for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel.
    18. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.
      • HazlittHad a drag in his walk.

    Derived terms

    Origin 2

    Possibly from English drag ("to pull along a surface") because of the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor, or from Yiddish טראָגן ("to wear")

    Douglas Harper, "camp (n.)" in Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001ff

    Noun

    drag

    (uncountable)
    1. (uncountable, slang) Women's clothing worn by men for the purpose of entertainment. from late 19th c.He performed in drag.
    2. (uncountable, slang) Any type of clothing or costume associated with a particular occupation or subculture.corporate drag

    Derived terms

    Anagrams

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