Library / English Dictionary

DRAG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: dragged    , dragging   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of dragging (pulling with force)

Example:

the drag up the hill exhausted him

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

pull; pulling (the act of pulling; applying force to move something toward or with you)

Derivation:

drag (pull, as against a resistance)

drag (draw slowly or heavily)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke)

Example:

he took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly

Synonyms:

drag; puff; pull

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

aspiration; breathing in; inhalation; inspiration; intake (the act of inhaling; the drawing in of air (or other gases) as in breathing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drag"):

toke (a puff of a marijuana or hashish cigarette)

Holonyms ("drag" is a part of...):

smoke; smoking (the act of smoking tobacco or other substances)

Derivation:

drag (suck in or take (air))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Clothing that is conventionally worn by the opposite sex (especially women's clothing when worn by a man)

Example:

the waitresses looked like missionaries in drag

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

article of clothing; clothing; habiliment; vesture; wear; wearable (a covering designed to be worn on a person's body)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Something tedious and boring

Example:

peeling potatoes is a drag

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

tediousness; tedium; tiresomeness (dullness owing to length or slowness)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Something that slows or delays progress

Example:

too many laws are a drag on the use of new land

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

balk; baulk; check; deterrent; handicap; hinderance; hindrance; impediment (something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid

Synonyms:

drag; retarding force

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("drag" is a kind of...):

resistance (any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drag"):

sonic barrier; sound barrier (the increase in aerodynamic drag as an airplane approaches the speed of sound)

windage (the retarding force of air friction on a moving object)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Proceed for an extended period of time

Example:

The speech dragged on for two hours

Synonyms:

drag; drag on; drag out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

go; proceed (follow a certain course)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Persuade to come away from something attractive or interesting

Example:

He dragged me away from the television set

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

persuade (cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Suck in or take (air)

Example:

draw on a cigarette

Synonyms:

drag; draw; puff

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

breathe in; inhale; inspire (draw in (air))

"Drag" entails doing...:

smoke (inhale and exhale smoke from cigarettes, cigars, pipes)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

drag (a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Search (as the bottom of a body of water) for something valuable or lost

Synonyms:

drag; dredge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence examples:

The men drag the area for animals

The men drag for animals in the area

Sense 5

Meaning:

Pull, as against a resistance

Example:

These worries were dragging at him

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

draw; pull (cause to move by pulling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drag"):

pull along; schlep; shlep (pull along heavily, like a heavy load against a resistance)

trail; train (drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Also:

drag in (force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action)

Derivation:

drag (the act of dragging (pulling with force))

dragger (someone who pulls or tugs or drags in an effort to move something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Draw slowly or heavily

Example:

haul nets

Synonyms:

cart; drag; hale; haul

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

draw; pull (cause to move by pulling)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drag"):

bouse; bowse (haul with a tackle)

underrun (haul onto a boat)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

drag (the act of dragging (pulling with force))

dragger (a fishing boat that uses a trawl net or dragnet to catch fish)

dragger (someone who pulls or tugs or drags in an effort to move something)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Walk without lifting the feet

Synonyms:

drag; scuff

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

scuffle; shamble; shuffle (walk by dragging one's feet)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The children drag to the playground

Sense 8

Meaning:

To lag or linger behind

Example:

But in so many other areas we still are dragging

Synonyms:

drag; drop back; drop behind; get behind; hang back; trail

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

dawdle; fall back; fall behind; lag (hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 9

Meaning:

Move slowly and as if with great effort

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 10

Meaning:

Use a computer mouse to move icons on the screen and select commands from a menu

Example:

drag this icon to the lower right hand corner of the screen

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 11

Meaning:

Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action

Example:

don't drag me into this business

Synonyms:

drag; drag in; embroil; sweep; sweep up; tangle

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "drag" is one way to...):

involve (engage as a participant)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

I sprang out, they tried to drag me back, and had it not been for the help of this good man, who led me to the cab, I should never had broken away.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The body of the French squire had been dragged out by them and hacked to pieces.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They are in turn thought to be driven by the presence of supermassive black holes, which drag surrounding material inwards and spit out bright jets and radiation as they do so.

(Hubble's Megamaser Galaxy, ESA/NASA)

Then he carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off when the burglar had dragged it down.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I glanced at the card to see the entries.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Men have a firm step, and when they walk over peas none of them stir, but girls trip and skip, and drag their feet, and the peas roll about.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

If Pluto feels you are in the wrong job, in time he will drag you to the right one.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He obeyed, but with a rush, hurling himself upon the stranger who was dragging him away.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

There was nothing the young gentleman would have liked better, but elephants could not have dragged him back after the scolding he had received.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

In vain we dragged out some of the pieces.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)