Dictionary
drag
Pronunciation: (drag), [key]
—v., dragged, drag•ging,
—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.
—
v.i.
1. to be drawn or hauled along.
2. to trail on the ground.
3. to move heavily or with effort.
4. to proceed or pass with tedious slowness:
The parade dragged by endlessly.
5. to feel listless or apathetic; move listlessly or apathetically (often fol. by
around):
This heat wave has everyone dragging around.
6. to lag behind.
7. to use a drag or grapnel; dredge.
8. to take part in a drag race.
9. to take a puff:
to drag on a cigarette.
10. drag one's feet or heels, to act with reluctance; delay:
The committee is dragging its feet coming to a decision.
—
n.
1. 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.
2. Agric.a heavy wooden or steel frame drawn over the ground to smooth it.
3. Slang.someone or something tedious; a bore:
It's a drag having to read this old novel.
4. a stout sledge or sled.
5. Aeron.the aerodynamic force exerted on an airfoil, airplane, or other aerodynamic body that tends to reduce its forward motion.
6. a four-horse sporting and passenger coach with seats inside and on top.
7. a metal shoe to receive a wheel of heavy wagons and serve as a brake on steep grades.
8. something that retards progress.
9. an act of dragging.
10. slow, laborious movement or procedure; retardation.
11. a puff or inhalation on a cigarette, pipe, etc.
12. 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.
13. Angling.
a. a brake on a fishing reel.
b. the sideways pull on a fishline, as caused by a crosscurrent.
14. 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.
15. clothing characteristic of a particular occupation or milieu:
Two guests showed up in gangster drag.
16. Also called
comb. Masonry.a steel plate with a serrated edge for dressing a stone surface.
17. Metall.the lower part of a flask. Cf.
cope2 (def. 5).
18. Slang.influence:
He claims he has drag with his senator.
19. Slang.a girl or woman that one is escorting; date.
20. Informal.a street or thoroughfare, esp. a main street of a town or city.
21. See
drag race.
22. Eastern New Eng.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.
