drag
Pronunciation: (drag), [key]
— v., n., adj. dragged, drag•ging,
—v.t.
- to draw with force, effort, or difficulty; pull heavily or slowly along; haul; trail: They dragged the carpet out of the house.
- to search with a drag, grapnel, or the like: They dragged the lake for the body of the missing man.
- to level and smooth (land) with a drag or harrow.
- to introduce; inject; insert: He drags his honorary degree into every discussion.
- to protract (something) or pass (time) tediously or painfully (often fol. by out or on): They dragged the discussion out for three hours.
—v.i.
- to be drawn or hauled along.
- to trail on the ground.
- to move heavily or with effort.
- to proceed or pass with tedious slowness: The parade dragged by endlessly.
- to feel listless or apathetic; move listlessly or apathetically (often fol. by around): This heat wave has everyone dragging around.
- to lag behind.
- to use a drag or grapnel; dredge.
- to take part in a drag race.
- to take a puff: to drag on a cigarette.
- to act with reluctance; delay: The committee is dragging its feet coming to a decision.
—n.
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- 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.
- a heavy wooden or steel frame drawn over the ground to smooth it.
- someone or something tedious; a bore: It's a drag having to read this old novel.
- a stout sledge or sled.
- the aerodynamic force exerted on an airfoil, airplane, or other aerodynamic body that tends to reduce its forward motion.
- a four-horse sporting and passenger coach with seats inside and on top.
- a metal shoe to receive a wheel of heavy wagons and serve as a brake on steep grades.
- something that retards progress.
- an act of dragging.
- slow, laborious movement or procedure; retardation.
- a puff or inhalation on a cigarette, pipe, etc.
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- the scent left by a fox or other animal.
- something, as aniseed, dragged over the ground to leave an artificial scent.
- Also calleddrag hunt.a hunt, esp. a fox hunt, in which the hounds follow an artificial scent.
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- a brake on a fishing reel.
- the sideways pull on a fishline, as caused by a crosscurrent.
- 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.
- clothing characteristic of a particular occupation or milieu: Two guests showed up in gangster drag.
- Also calleda steel plate with a serrated edge for dressing a stone surface.
- the lower part of a flask. Cf. cope (def. 5).
- influence: He claims he has drag with his senator.
- a girl or woman that one is escorting; date.
- a street or thoroughfare, esp. a main street of a town or city.
- See
- a sledge, as for carrying stones from a field.
—adj.
- marked by or involving the wearing of clothing characteristically associated with the opposite sex; transvestite.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.