D defs.my
Menu ☰
Entry 18 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Drag

/drăg/ · IPA /ˈdɹæɡ/
01 n. A confection; a comfit; a drug.
  1. 1.
    A confection; a comfit; a drug.[Obs.]
02 v. t. To draw slowly or heavily onward; to pull along the ground by main force; to haul; to trail; -- applied to drawing heavy or resisting bodie…
imp. & p. p. Dragged; p. pr. & vb. n. Dragging
  1. 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. 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. 3.
    To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.
    “Have dragged a lingering life.” — Dryden.
Phrases & compounds
To drag an anchor — to trail it along the bottom when the anchor will not hold the ship.
Syn. See Draw.
03 v. i. 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 …
  1. 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. 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. 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. 4.
    To fish with a dragnet.
04 n. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.
  1. 1.
    The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.
  2. 2.
    A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.
  3. 3.
    A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.
  4. 4.
    A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage.[Collog.]
  5. 5.
    A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.
  6. 6.
    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).
    “My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.” — J. D. Forbes.
  7. 7.
    Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.
  8. 8.
    The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.(Founding)
  9. 9.
    A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.(Masonry)
  10. 10.
    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.(Marine Engin.) See: Drag
Phrases & compounds
Drag sail — 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 — a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.