- the act of dragging (pulling with force)
"the drag up the hill exhausted him"

- a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke)
"he took a puff on his pipe"
"he took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly"

- clothing that is conventionally worn by the opposite sex (especially women''s clothing when worn by a man)
"he went to the party dressed in drag"
"the waitresses looked like missionaries in drag"

- something tedious and boring
"peeling potatoes is a drag"

- something that slows or delays progress
"taxation is a drag on the economy"
"too many laws are a drag on the use of new land"

- the phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid

- proceed for an extended period of time
"The speech dragged on for two hours"

- persuade to come away from something attractive or interesting
"He dragged me away from the television set"

- suck in or take (air)
"draw a deep breath"
"draw on a cigarette"

- search (as the bottom of a body of water) for something valuable or lost

- pull, as against a resistance
"He dragged the big suitcase behind him"
"These worries were dragging at him"

- draw slowly or heavily
"haul stones"
"haul nets"

- walk without lifting the feet

- to lag or linger behind
"But in so many other areas we still are dragging"

- move slowly and as if with great effort

- use a computer mouse to move icons on the screen and select commands from a menu
"drag this icon to the lower right hand corner of the screen"

- force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action
"They were swept up by the events"
"don''t drag me into this business"

1. A confection; a comfit; a drug. [Obs.] Chaucer.

1. To draw slowly or heavily onward; to pull along the ground by main force; to haul; to trail; -- applied to drawing heavy or resisting bodies or those inapt for drawing, with labor, along the ground or other surface; as, to drag stone or timber; to drag a net in fishing.

"Dragged by the cords which through his feet were thrust." -- Denham.

"The grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down." -- Tennyson.

"A needless Alexandrine ends the song That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along." -- Pope.

2. To break, as land, by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow; to draw a drag along the bottom of, as a stream or other water; hence, to search, as by means of a drag.

"Then while I dragged my brains for such a song." -- Tennyson.

3. To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.

"Have dragged a lingering life." -- Dryden.

To drag an anchor
(Naut.), to trail it along the bottom when the anchor will not hold the ship.

Syn. -- See Draw.

1. To be drawn along, as a rope or dress, on the ground; to trail; to be moved onward along the ground, or along the bottom of the sea, as an anchor that does not hold.

2. To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.

"The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun." -- Byron.

"Long, open panegyric drags at best." -- Gay.

3. To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.

"A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her." -- Russell.

4. To fish with a dragnet.

1. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.

2. A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.

3. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.

4. A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage. [Collog.] Thackeray.

5. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.

6. (a) Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; esp., a canvas bag with a hooped mouth, so used. See Drag sail (below). (b) Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel. (c) Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.

"My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag." -- J. D. Forbes.

7. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged. "Had a drag in his walk." Hazlitt.

8. (Founding) The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.

9. (Masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.

10. (Marine Engin.) The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3.

Drag sail
(Naut.), a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel through the water in order to keep her head to the wind or to prevent drifting; -- called also drift sail, drag sheet, drag anchor, sea anchor, floating anchor, etc.

Drag twist
(Mining), a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.