drag

plural drags

1. uncountablenatural sciencesResistance of a fluid to something moving through it.

   When designing cars, manufacturers have to take drag into consideration.

2. countableuncountableby analogy with aboveAny force acting in opposition to the motion of an object.

   A high thrust-to-weight ratio helps a rocket to overcome the effects of gravity drag.

3. countableA device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing.
4. countableinformalA systematic search for someone over a wide area, especially by the authorities; a dragnet.

   "He told me that he was certain that Coates shot at him. We threw out a drag and landed Coates within an hour."

   1920 June 28, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 151, column 3

5. countableentertainmentA double drum-stroke played at twice the speed of the context in which it is placed.
6. countableinformalA puff on a cigarette or joint.

   Give me a drag on that roach!

   1 more example

   He got high after just one drag of the joint.

   Synonyms: lug, pull

7. countableslangSomeone or something that is annoying or frustrating, or disappointing; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.

   Travelling to work in the rush hour is a real drag.

   2 more examples

   December 24, 1865, James David Forbes, letter to Dr. Symonds My lectures […] were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.

   Yes, I wish that for just one time / You could stand inside my shoes / You'd know what a drag it is / To see you

   1965, Bob Dylan, “Positively 4th Street”

8. countableslangA long open horse-drawn carriage with transverse or side seats.First known use mid-18th c.

   Alcee Arobin and Mrs. Highcamp called for her one bright afternoon in Arobin's drag.

   1899, Kate Chopin, The Awakening

   1 more example

   I’m down here readin’ for my little go during the Long, only I come over from Baymouth pretty often in my drag…

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 10, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

9. countableslangA street.First known use mid-19th c.

   a back drag

   1 more example

   the main drag

10. countableThe scent-path left by dragging a fox, or some other substance such as aniseed, for training hounds to follow scents.

    to run a drag

11. uncountableball gamesA large amount of backspin on the cue ball, causing the cue ball to slow down.
12. countableuncountableA heavy harrow for breaking up ground.
13. countableuncountableA kind of sledge for conveying heavy objects; also, a kind of low car or handcart.

    a stone drag

    1 more example

    Near-synonyms: dray, stoneboat

    Synonyms: dray, stoneboat

14. countableThe bottom part of a sand casting mold.
15. countableuncountablebusinessA steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.
16. countableuncountablenauticalThe 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.
17. countableuncountableAnything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; especially, a canvas bag with a hooped mouth (drag sail), so used.
18. countableuncountableA pulled load.

    A northbound drag of furnace coal on the former South Yorkshire Joint Line crosses the East Coast main line near Black Carr behind Class "O4/1" 2-8-0 No. 63693.

    1959 October, “South of Doncaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 470, photo caption

19. countableuncountableA skid or shoe for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel.

    Synonyms: skidpan

20. countableuncountableMotion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.

    Had a drag in his walk.

    c. 1800, William Hazlitt, My First Acquaintance with Poets

21. uncountableentertainmentWitch house music.

    In your own words, what is drag or witch house music?

    2011 January 24, David Wicik, “Exorcising the Ghost: oOoOO breaks down the buzz about “drag””, in Newcity

    3 more examples

    “Our music is not like some other types where the energy is back and forth – music considered drag is like giving up oneself, to be pulled and controlled,” she says.

    2010 March 8, Scott Wright, quoting Heather Marlatt, “Scene and heard: Drag”, in The Guardian

    Whatever the appellation, these artists are doing some amazing stuff. Haunted house and drag are probably the most apposite terms because the music sounds like ghostly apparitions of old dance tunes, only at half-speed.

    2010 September 29, Paul Lester, “New band of the day - No 877: oOoOO”, in The Guardian

    They call this music drag because it's like dance music dragged down by the ponderous weight of existence (there's a Balam Acab track called Heavy Living Things); they call it witch house because it haunts you long after you stop listening.

    2010 December 2, Paul Lester, “New band of the day – No 922: Balam Acab”, in The Guardian

22. countableuncountableThe last position in a line of hikers.

    Okay, I'll take point, Kate, you take drag.

    1999, Dana Stabenow, Hunter's Moon, →ISBN, page 73

23. countableuncountableball gamesA push somewhat under the centre of the cue ball, causing it to follow the object ball a short way.
24. countableuncountableA device for guiding wood to the saw.
25. countablehistoricaluncountableA mailcoach.
26. countableslanguncountableA prison sentence of three months.

    The sodger who done it was quodded, but only for a drag, and he swore to God as how he’d do for me the next time as he comed across me.

    1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861

    1 more example

    1869, A Merchant. Editor: Frank Henderson, Six Years in the Prisons of England The copper knew I did that job, and had me up on suspicion some time after, and gave me a drag (three months) over it. The next bit I did was a 'sixer' (six months), and I escaped from prison in about three weeks after I got it.

present singular third person drags · participle present dragging · participle past dragged · past dragged · dialectal participle past drug · dialectal past drug

1. transitiveTo pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.

   Let's drag this load of wood over to the shed.

   2 more examples

   The misbehaving child was dragged out of the classroom.

   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.

   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

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

   Time seems to drag when you're waiting for a bus.

   3 more examples

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

   1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXII

   a. 1732, John Gay, epistle to a Lady Long, open panegyric drags at best.

   The Irishman is the director’s longest drama, but it never drags.

   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

3. To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant.

   1 more example

   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.

   2013 September-October, James R. Carter, “Flowers and Ribbons of Ice”, in American Scientist

4. To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.

   have dragged a lingering life

   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

   1 more example

   You aren't going to be able to carry any more stuff. You're dragging around all that junk.

   1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System

5. 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.

   1883, William Clark Russell, Sailor’s Language:A collection of Sea-terms and Their Definitions

6. computingTo operate a pointing device by moving it with a button held down; to move, copy, etc. (an item) in this way.

   Drag the file into the window to open it.

7. To unintentionally rub or scrape on a surface.

   The car was so low to the ground that its muffler was dragging on a speed bump.

8. ball gamesTo hit or kick off target.

   Arsenal were struggling for any sort of rhythm and Aaron Lennon dragged an effort inches wide as Tottenham pressed for a second.

   2012, David Ornstein, BBC Sport, "Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20278355, November 17

9. To fish with a dragnet.
10. To search for something, as a lost object or body, by dragging something along the bottom of a body of water.
11. To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow.

    Synonyms: harrow

12. figurativelyTo search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet.

    while I dragged my brains for such a song

    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

13. slangTo roast, say negative things about, or call attention to the flaws of (someone).

    You just drag him 'cause he's got more money than you.

    Synonyms: criticize, admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, clobber, cannonade

14. intransitiveentertainmentTo 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.

    Antonyms: rush

15. informalintransitiveTo inhale from a cigarette, cigar, etc.
16. AustraliaslangtransitiveTo drag something on.

    Mate, you're just dragging it now.

comparative more drag · superlative most drag

1. AustraliaslangDragged on; unnecessary or superfluous, especially for an already settled issue; too much.

   Wallah, the task is so drag.

plural drags

1. uncountableusuallyA performance art form associated with the LGBTQ+ community, that features a stylized and exaggerated portrayal of femininity or, at times, masculinity, often playing with gender stereotypes.
2. Clothing, accessories, and makeup used in this art form, especially:
   1. slanguncountableusuallyWomen's clothing, accessories, and makeup worn by men for the purpose of entertainment.First known use late 19th c.

      He performed in drag.

      2 more examples

      I know what "in drag" means; it is the slang for going about in women's clothes.

      1870 May 30, “The Men in Women's Clothes”, in The Times, →ISSN, page 13

      With the aid of informers they discovered where the great drag dances were being held and turned their attention thither. [...] They couldn't, of course, be advertised, but no publicity was needed. The network always managed to reach any one who might want to go and had half-a-crown to spare for a ticket. About three-quarters of the men who attended these dances were in drag.

      1968, Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant, London: Cape, →OCLC, page 82

   2. slanguncountableusuallyby analogyMen's clothing, accessories, and makeup worn by women for the purpose of entertainment.
3. countableslangusuallyA men's party attended in women's clothing.First known use early 20th c.

   This freedom of speech of hers was a kind of masquerade of sexuality, like the rubber breasts homosexuals put on for drags, [...]

   1942, Mary McCarthy, The Company She Keeps, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, →OCLC, page 104

   1 more example

   A heterosexual person cannot really break into their [homosexuals'] inner circles. They have parties or "drags" to which only homosexuals are admitted, and at these some generally appear in female dress.

   1927, Aaron J. Rosanoff, “Sexual Psychopaths”, in Manual of Psychiatry, 6th edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., →OCLC, page 203

4. countableslangusuallyA drag king or drag queen.

   1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure That Mich drag Loretta sent me about 10 pictures of her so I wouldn't think her a "decrepit old lady." But too bad—she looked like someone's biddy aunt.

   1 more example

   To sublet in comfy fag hsehold for Jun, July, Aug. […] Drags & Dykes welcome.

   1978 April 8, Robert Haule, “Lge Room in San Francisco (classified advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 14

5. slanguncountableusuallyAny type of clothing or costume associated with a particular occupation or subculture.

   corporate drag

   1 more example

   As the album soared to the top of the charts, straight discos picked up on it. […] The Village People performed at 2001, the same disco that provides setting for much of Saturday Night Fever. Dressed in butch gay drag, the men in the group couldn't keep the women away.

   1978 April 1, Eric Rogers, “The Macho Madness of the Village People”, in Gay Community News, page 11

present singular third person drags · participle present dragging · participle past dragged · past dragged

1. informalintransitiveTo perform as a drag queen or drag king.

plural drags

1. abbreviationclippinginformaluncommonClipping of dragon.

   > 2 catacomb dragons > 3 volcanic dragons Lose 3 of the drags: 5 is too many

   1997 February 7, Walter Freeman, “Mirage only decks”, in rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (Usenet), archived from the original on 05 Dec 2025

   2 more examples

   the dragon gets a first shot off! although, afterwards, they attack at same speed, but trust me, drags attack first. Rayn ps. I'd rather gryphs than drags.

   1997 February 4, Rayn, “gryphons or dragons?”, in alt.games.warcraft (Usenet), archived from the original on 05 Dec 2025

   Barring the +1 Con this would seem to be pretty good for going up against the drags.....

   2000 July 5, Andy W, “[Z251] YACD: a distraction from the stoked embers”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband (Usenet), archived from the original on 05 Dec 2025