drag
pronunciation
How to pronounce drag in British English:
UK [dræɡ]
How to pronounce drag in American English:
US [dræɡ]
-
- Noun:
- the phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid
- something that slows or delays progress
- something tedious and boring
- clothing that is conventionally worn by the opposite sex (especially women's clothing when worn by a man)
- a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke)
- the act of dragging (pulling with force)
-
- Verb:
- pull, as against a resistance
- draw slowly or heavily
- force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action
- move slowly and as if with great effort
- to lag or linger behind
- suck in or take (air)
- use a computer mouse to move icons on the screen and select commands from a menu
- walk without lifting the feet
- search (as the bottom of a body of water) for something valuable or lost
- persuade to come away from something attractive or interesting
- proceed for an extended period of time
Word Origin
- drag
- drag: [14] Drag has two possible sources, each with equally plausible claims: Old English dragan, source of modern English draw, or the related Old Norse draga. Both go back to a common Germanic source. Of the modern colloquial applications of the word, ‘women’s clothes worn by men’ seems to have originated in 19th-century theatrical slang, in reference to the ‘dragging’ of a woman’s long skirts along the ground (an unusual sensation for someone used to wearing trousers).=> draw
- drag (v.)
- mid-15c., from Old Norse draga, or a dialectal variant of Old English dragan "to draw," both from Proto-Germanic *dragan "to draw, pull," from PIE root *dhragh- "to draw, drag on the ground" (cognates: Sanskrit dhrajati "pulls, slides in," Russian drogi "wagon;" but not considered to be directly the source of Latin trahere). Meaning "to take a puff" (of a cigarette, etc.) is from 1914. Related: Dragged; dragging. Drag-out "violent fight" is from c. 1859. To drag (one's) feet (1946, in figurative sense) supposedly is from logging, from a lazy way to use a two-man saw.
- drag (n.)
- c. 1300, "dragnet," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish dragg "grapnel") or from Old English dræge "dragnet," related to dragan "to draw" (see drag (v.)). Sense of "annoying, boring person or thing" is 1813, perhaps from the notion of something that must be dragged as an impediment. Sense of "women's clothing worn by a man" is said to be 1870 theater slang, from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor (another guess is Yiddish trogn "to wear," from German tragen); drag queen is from 1941. Drag racing (1947), is said to be from thieves' slang drag "automobile" (1935), perhaps ultimately from slang sense of "wagon, buggy" (1755), because a horse would drag it. By 1851 this was transferred to "street," as in the phrase main drag (which some propose as the source of the racing sense). In addition to the time trials there are a number of "drag races" between two or more cars. They are run, not for record, but to satisfy the desire of most Americans to see who can get from here to there in the fastest time. ["Popular Mechanics," January 1947]
Example
- 1. They grab the immobilized jack and drag him inside .
- 2. This produces late separation and a small drag .
- 3. Will it drag the world economy with it ?
- 4. The gas was slowed by a drag force similar to air resistance .
- 5. Republicans say they need some sort of leverage to drag a spendthrift president to the negotiating table .