Drag

Drag (?), n. [See 3d Dredge.] A confection; a comfit; a drug. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Drag, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dragged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dragging (?).] [OE. draggen; akin to Sw. dragga to search with a grapnel, fr. dragg grapnel, fr. draga to draw, the same word as E. draw. ? See Draw.] 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.

The grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.

A needless Alexandrine ends the song
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

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.

3. To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.

Have dragged a lingering life.

To drag an anchor (Naut.), to trail it along the bottom when the anchor will not hold the ship.

Syn. -- See Draw.

Drag, v. i. 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. 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.

Long, open panegyric drags at best.

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.

4. To fish with a dragnet.

Drag, n. [See Drag, v. t., and cf. Dray a cart, and 1st Dredge.] 1. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.

2. A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.

3. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.

4. A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage. [Collog.] Thackeray.

5. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.

6. (a) 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). (b) Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel. (c) Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.

My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.

7. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged. "Had a drag in his walk." Hazlitt.

8. (Founding) The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.

9. (Masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.

10. (Marine Engin.) 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.

Drag sail (Naut.), 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 (Mining), a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.