/drag/ , v. , dragged, dragging , n. , adj.
v.t.
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 fol. 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, esp. by using a mouse.
v.i.
7. to be drawn or hauled along.
8. to trail on the ground.
9. to move heavily or with effort.
10. to proceed or pass with tedious slowness: The parade dragged by endlessly.
11. to feel listless or apathetic; move listlessly or apathetically (often fol. by around ): This heat wave has everyone dragging around.
12. to lag behind.
13. to use a drag or grapnel; dredge.
14. to take part in a drag race.
15. to take a puff: to drag on a cigarette.
16. drag one's feet or heels , to act with reluctance; delay: The committee is dragging its feet coming to a decision.
n.
17. Naut.
a. a designed increase of draft toward the stern of a vessel.
b. resistance to the movement of a hull through the water.
c. any of a number of weights dragged cumulatively by a vessel sliding down ways to check its speed.
d. any object dragged in the water, as a sea anchor.
e. any device for dragging the bottom of a body of water to recover or detect objects.
18. Agric. a heavy wooden or steel frame drawn over the ground to smooth it.
19. Slang. someone or something tedious; a bore: It's a drag having to read this old novel.
20. a stout sledge or sled.
21. Aeron. the aerodynamic force exerted on an airfoil, airplane, or other aerodynamic body that tends to reduce its forward motion.
22. a four-horse sporting and passenger coach with seats inside and on top.
23. a metal shoe to receive a wheel of heavy wagons and serve as a brake on steep grades.
24. something that retards progress.
25. an act of dragging.
26. slow, laborious movement or procedure; retardation.
27. a puff or inhalation on a cigarette, pipe, etc.
28. Hunting.
a. the scent left by a fox or other animal.
b. something, as aniseed, dragged over the ground to leave an artificial scent.
c. Also called drag hunt . a hunt, esp. a fox hunt, in which the hounds follow an artificial scent.
29. Angling.
a. a brake on a fishing reel.
b. the sideways pull on a fishline, as caused by a crosscurrent.
30. clothing characteristically associated with one sex when worn by a person of the opposite sex: a Mardi Gras ball at which many of the dancers were in drag.
31. clothing characteristic of a particular occupation or milieu: Two guests showed up in gangster drag.
32. Also called comb . Masonry. a steel plate with a serrated edge for dressing a stone surface.
33. Metall. the lower part of a flask. Cf. cope 2 (def. 5).
34. Slang. influence: He claims he has drag with his senator.
35. Slang. a girl or woman that one is escorting; date.
36. Informal. a street or thoroughfare, esp. a main street of a town or city.
37. See drag race .
38. Eastern New Eng. a sledge, as for carrying stones from a field.
adj.
39. marked by or involving the wearing of clothing characteristically associated with the opposite sex; transvestite.
[ 1350-1400; 1920-25 for def. 18; ME; both n. and v. prob. dragge grapnel, draggen to dredge, deriv. of drag- DRAW; defs. 29-30, 38, obscurely related to other senses and perh. a distinct word of independent orig. ]
Syn. 1. See draw. 11. linger, loiter.