Word Definition

Drag

  1. 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.
  2. To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
  3. Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.
  4. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.
  5. A confection; a comfit; a drug.
  6. To fish with a dragnet.
  7. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.
  8. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.
  9. To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.
  10. A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.
  11. A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage.
  12. 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.
  13. To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.
  14. A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.
  15. 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.
  16. 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).
  17. The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.
  18. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.
  19. 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.
  20. Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel.