drag

[ drag ]
See synonyms for: dragdraggeddragging on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. to level and smooth (land) with a drag or harrow.

  2. to introduce; inject; insert: He drags his honorary degree into every discussion.

  3. to protract (something) or pass (time) tediously or painfully (often followed by out or on): They dragged the discussion out for three hours.

  4. 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.

  1. to move heavily or with effort.

  2. to proceed or pass with tedious slowness: The parade dragged by endlessly.

  3. to feel listless or apathetic; move listlessly or apathetically (often followed by around): This heat wave has everyone dragging around.

  4. to lag behind.

  5. to use a drag or grapnel; dredge.

  6. to take part in a drag race.

  7. 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.

  1. an act of dragging.

  2. slow, laborious movement or procedure; retardation.

  3. Slang. someone or something tedious; a bore: It's a drag having to read this old novel.

  4. a puff or inhalation on a cigarette, pipe, etc.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. clothing characteristic of a particular occupation or milieu:Two guests showed up in gangster drag.

  8. Informal. a street or thoroughfare, especially a main street of a town or city.

  9. Nautical.

    • a designed increase of draft toward the stern of a vessel.

    • resistance to the movement of a hull through the water.

    • any of a number of weights dragged cumulatively by a vessel sliding down ways to check its speed.

    • any object dragged in the water, as a sea anchor.

    • any device for dragging the bottom of a body of water to recover or detect objects.

  10. Angling.

    • a brake on a fishing reel.

    • the sideways pull on a fishline, as caused by a crosscurrent.

  11. Agriculture. a heavy wooden or steel frame drawn over the ground to smooth it.

  12. a stout sledge or sled.

  13. a four-horse sporting and passenger coach with seats inside and on top.

  14. a metal shoe to receive a wheel of heavy wagons and serve as a brake on steep grades.

  15. Hunting.

    • the scent left by a fox or other animal.

    • something, as aniseed, dragged over the ground to leave an artificial scent.

    • Also called drag hunt . a hunt, especially a fox hunt, in which the hounds follow an artificial scent.

  16. Also called comb .Masonry. a steel plate with a serrated edge for dressing a stone surface.

  17. Metallurgy. the lower part of a flask.: Compare cope2 (def. 5).

  18. Slang. influence: He claims he has drag with his senator.

  19. 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.

Idioms about drag

  1. drag one's feet / heels, to act with reluctance; delay: The committee is dragging its feet coming to a decision.

Origin of drag

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; 1920–25 for def. 20; Middle English; both noun and verb probably from Middle Low German dragge “grapnel,” draggen “to dredge,” derivative of drag- draw; defs. 22, 24, 38 are obscurely related to other senses and perhaps a distinct word of independent origin

synonym study For drag

1. See draw.

Other words for drag

Other words from drag

  • out·drag, verb (used with object), out·dragged, out·drag·ging.

Words Nearby drag

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use drag in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for drag

drag

/ (dræɡ) /


verbdrags, dragging or dragged
  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

  1. to trail or cause to trail on the ground

  2. (tr) to move (oneself, one's feet, etc) with effort or difficulty: he drags himself out of bed at dawn

  3. to linger behind

  4. (often foll by on or out) to prolong or be prolonged tediously or unnecessarily: his talk dragged on for hours

  5. (tr foll by out) to pass (time) in discomfort, poverty, unhappiness, etc: he dragged out his few remaining years

  6. (when intr, 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

  7. (tr foll by out or from) to crush (clods) or level (a soil surface) by use of a drag

  8. (of hounds) to follow (a fox or its trail) to the place where it has been lying

  9. (intr) slang to draw (on a cigarette, pipe, etc)

  10. computing to move (data) from one place to another on the screen by manipulating a mouse with its button held down

  11. drag anchor (of a vessel) to move away from its mooring because the anchor has failed to hold

  12. drag one's feet or drag one's heels informal to act with deliberate slowness

  13. 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

  1. Also called: drag harrow a type of harrow consisting of heavy beams, often with spikes inserted, used to crush clods, level soil, or prepare seedbeds

  2. a sporting coach with seats inside and out, usually drawn by four horses

  3. a braking or retarding device, such as a metal piece fitted to the underside of the wheel of a horse-drawn vehicle

  4. a person or thing that slows up progress

  5. slow progress or movement

  6. 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

  7. the trail of scent left by a fox or other animal hunted with hounds

  8. an artificial trail of a strong-smelling substance, sometimes including aniseed, drawn over the ground for hounds to follow

  9. angling unnatural movement imparted to a fly, esp a dry fly, by tension on the angler's line

  10. informal a person or thing that is very tedious; bore: exams are a drag

  11. slang a car

  12. short for drag race

  13. slang

    • women's clothes worn by a man, usually by a transvestite (esp in the phrase in drag)

    • (as modifier): a drag club; drag show

    • clothes collectively

  14. informal a draw on a cigarette, pipe, etc

  15. US slang influence or persuasive power

  16. mainly US slang a street or road

Origin of drag

1
Old English dragan to draw; related to Swedish dragga

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for drag

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.♦ 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.♦ 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. Compare lift. See Note at aerodynamics.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with drag

drag

In addition to the idioms beginning with drag

  • drag in
  • drag on
  • drag one's ass
  • drag one's feet
  • drag queen

also see:

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

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.