drag out

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

1. ambitransitiveTo extend or lengthen excessively; to draw out.

   I don't want to drag out this talk, so I'll stop now and answer any questions.

   1 more example

   It upsets me that there is no regard that the children have taken another day off school and all they wanted was for it to be over. Conveniently for the defence, it’s dragging out and our nerves are getting frayed.

   2013, Lisa Bonavita, Secrets Exposed: When Remaining Silent Is No Longer an Option, →ISBN, page 50

2. transitiveTo haul or bring out forcefully or from an awkward location.

   She dragged out her old Spanish textbooks in an attempt to prepare for her trip.

   1 more example

   'I'm sure I should have never mentioned anything of the kind to three strange gentlemen if you hadn't dragged it out of me.'

   1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 105