drag
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: drăg
ipa: /dɹæɡ/
rhymes: -æɡ
Forms: form: drags
form: dragging
form: dragged
form: dragged
form: drug
form: drug
Etymology: 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 *dʰregʰ- (“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”). Doublet of draw.
Senses: examples: text: Let's drag this load of wood over to the shed.
text: The misbehaving child was dragged out of the classroom.
text: I knew where I didn't want to land so with some aggressive steering I was able to crab into the wind and land successfully on an open plowed farm field some 50 yards west of the hardball road I had seen, next to what seemed at the time to be a T intersection that led off to the east. Although I landed softly, there was a stiff 15-knot wind so I was getting drug a little bit. On my back I dug my heels in and reached up to pop both canopy releases, but on better thought decided against it, as the parachute would probably blow across the road.
ref: 2007 May, Carlos Lorch, quoting Dale Zelko, “Blast from the Past: Interview with Lt Colonel Dale Zelko, USAF”, in Nighthawks, volume 5, number 1, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2016, page 14:
glosses: To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.
examples: text: Time seems to drag when you're waiting for a bus.
text: The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun.
ref: 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXII:
text: a. 1732, John Gay, epistle to a Lady
Long, open panegyric drags at best.
text: The Irishman is the director’s longest drama, but it never drags.
ref: 2019 October 31, A. A. Dowd, “Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reunite for one last gripping crime epic, The Irishman”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2020:
glosses: To proceed heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2013 September-October, James R. Carter, “Flowers and Ribbons of Ice”, in American Scientist:
glosses: To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant.
examples: text: have dragged a lingering life
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: You aren't going to be able to carry any more stuff. You're dragging around all that junk.
ref: 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
glosses: To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.
examples: text: A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her.
ref: 1883, William Clark Russell, Sailor’s Language:A collection of Sea-terms and Their Definitions:
glosses: To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.
examples: text: Drag the file into the window to open it.
topics: computing
engineering
graphical-user-interface
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To operate a pointing device by moving it with a button held down; to move, copy, etc. (an item) in this way.
examples: text: The car was so low to the ground that its muffler was dragging on a speed bump.
glosses: To unintentionally rub or scrape on a surface.
raw_tags: of a vehicle
examples: text: Arsenal were struggling for any sort of rhythm and Aaron Lennon dragged an effort inches wide as Tottenham pressed for a second.
ref: 2012, David Ornstein, BBC Sport, "Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20278355, November 17
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: To hit or kick off target.
glosses: To fish with a dragnet.
glosses: To search for something, as a lost object or body, by dragging something along the bottom of a body of water.
synonyms: harrow
glosses: To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow.
examples: text: while I dragged my brains for such a song
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet.
examples: text: You just drag him 'cause he's got more money than you.
synonyms: word: criticize
word: animadvert
word: admonish
word: bash
word: bawl out
word: blast
word: derogate
word: berate
word: berisp
word: castigate
word: censure
word: chastise
word: chew out
word: chide
word: condemn
word: criticize
word: denounce
word: denunciate
word: drag
word: dress down
word: eat someone alive
word: excoriate
word: find fault
word: fulminate
word: get down
word: get up
word: give somebody a piece of one's mind
word: give somebody what-for
word: inveigh
word: lace into
word: lambaste
word: lay into
word: lecture
word: light into
word: objurgate
word: pooh-pooh
word: put someone on blast
word: rate
word: read somebody the riot act
word: rebuke
word: reprehend
word: reprimand
word: reproach
word: reprove
word: rip into
word: rubbish
word: savage
word: scold
word: slam
word: tear into
word: tell off
word: threap
word: tick off
word: tosh
word: keelhaul
word: upbraid
word: vilify
word: vituperate
glosses: To roast, say negative things about, or call attention to the flaws of (someone).
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
antonyms: rush
glosses: To play at a slower tempo than one is supposed to or than the other musicians one is playing with, or to inadvertently gradually decrease tempo while one is playing.
glosses: To inhale from a cigarette, cigar, etc.
Synonyms: word: drag
word: draw
word: hale
word: lug
word: schlep
word: tug
Hypernyms: word: move
word: pull
word: transport
Hyponyms: word: haul
word: heave
word: tow
word: trail
word: train
Derived terms: drag-along right
drag-and-drop
drag and drop
drag ass
drag-ass
drag click
drag down
drag-drop
draggability
draggable
draggage
dragger
draggle
drag in
drag into
dragline
drag on
drag one's feet
drag one's heels
drag out
dragster
drag the chain
drag through the mud
drag up
left-drag
look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards
outdrag
redrag
right-drag
underdrag
undragged
updrag
what the cat dragged in
Related terms: word: dragnet
sense: call attention to the flaws of
word: read
word: carry
word: lift
word: lurch
word: yank