drag

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To pull something heavy along with effort.

   They dragged the big suitcase up the stairs.

2. 2
   verb

   To pull or persuade someone to come away from something they enjoy.

   My parents dragged me away from the television.

3. 3
   verb

   To continue slowly for a long, boring time.

   The meeting dragged on for nearly three hours.

4. 4
   noun

   Something boring, annoying, or tedious.

   Cleaning the whole house alone is such a drag.

5. 5
   noun

   Something that slows down progress.

   High taxes can be a drag on the economy.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Drag comes either from Old English dragan or from the Old Norse root draga and shares a common Germanic heritage with draw, draught, and dray. Its early-19th-century sense “a boring or tiresome person or thing” developed from the idea of an attachment that drags and hinders progress.

From Middle English draggen (“to drag”), early Middle English dragen (“to draw, carry”), confluence of Old English dragan (“to drag, draw, draw oneself, go, protract”) and Old Norse draga (“to draw, attract”); both from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, drag”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to draw, drag”). Verb sense influenced due to association with the noun drag (“that which is hauled or dragged”), related to Low German dragge (“a drag-anchor, grapnel”). Cognate with Danish drægge (“to dredge”), Danish drage (“to draw, attract”), Swedish dragga (“to drag, drag anchor, sweep”), Swedi…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary