drag

1 of 4

verb

ˈdrag 

dragged; dragging; drags

transitive verb

1

a(1)

: to draw or pull slowly or heavily : haul

dragging a box down the hall

(2)

: to cause to move with slowness or difficulty

dragged myself up the stairs

dragging his feet

(3)

: to cause to trail (see trail entry 1 sense 1a) along a surface

wandered off dragging the leash

b(1)

: to bring by or as if by force or compulsion

dragging the kids to the grocery store

(2)

: to extract by or as if by pulling

drag the truth out of him

c

: protract

drag a story out

2

a

: to pass a drag over

drag a field

b

: to explore with a drag

drag the pond for the drowning victim

c

hunting and fishing : to catch with a dragnet (see dragnet sense 1)

3

baseball : to hit (a drag bunt) while moving toward first base

4

computers : to select and move (an item on a computer screen) by using a mouse, a touch screen, etc.

drag the icon to the bottom row

Drag and drop any image into the search box on images.google.com to help determine whether a photo is fake.

—Laura Anastasia and Mary Kate Frank

intransitive verb

1

: to hang or lag behind

Stop dragging and hurry up.

2

: to fish or search with a drag (see drag entry 2 sense 1)

3

: to trail along on the ground

Your scarf is dragging.

4

a

: to move slowly because of fatigue

was dragging after the long trip

b

: to proceed or continue laboriously or tediously

The lawsuit dragged on for years.

5

: draw sense 4a

drag on a cigarette

6

: to make a plucking or pulling movement

7

sports : to participate in a drag race

draggingly

ˈdra-giŋ-lē 

adverb

drag

2 of 4

noun (1)

plural drags

1

: something used to drag (see drag entry 1) with

especially : a device for dragging under water to detect or obtain objects

2

: something that is dragged, pulled, or drawn along or over a surface: such as

a

agriculture : harrow

b

: a sledge (see sledge entry 3 sense 2) for conveying heavy bodies

c

: conveyance

3

a

: the act or an instance of dragging or drawing: such as

(1)

: a drawing along or over a surface with effort or pressure

(2)

: motion effected with slowness or difficulty

also : the condition of having or seeming to have such motion

(3)

: a draw on a pipe, cigarette, or cigar

took a drag on his cigar

also : a draft (see draft entry 1 sense 2b) of liquid

b

: something (such as slowness of movement or sagging) caused by or as if by dragging

(snooker) "Played it with drag as well, Dennis. I mean absolutely beautifully played, that was: drag on the cue ball so once it's made contact with the object ball there's hardly any life left on it. …"

—John Parrott

(geology) Friction along a fault surface may cause the rock layers adjacent to the fault to be bent or folded. … Such folding of the rocks abutting a fault is called drag …

—W. John Nelson

c

dated slang : influence securing special favor : pull

"If you've got a drag with old Macy, maybe he'll raise you," was Charley's disheartening reply. "But he didn't raise me till I'd been here nearly two years."

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

4

a

: something that slows or impedes motion, action, or advancement

Bringing up the rear was the drag, the worst position in the line [of a herd of cattle]. Drag riders had to make sure the weakest members of the herd kept pace, while breathing all the dust kicked up by the entire herd.

—Vic Kovacs

b(1)

physics : the slowing force acting on a body (such as an airplane) moving through a fluid (such as air) parallel and opposite to the direction of motion

(2)

mechanical engineering : friction (see friction sense 1b) between engine parts

also : a slowing due to friction

c

: burden, encumbrance

the drag of population growth on living standards

d

: one that is boring or gets in the way of enjoyment

thinks studying is a drag

5

hunting

a

: an object drawn over the ground to leave a scented trail

b

: a clog (see clog entry 1 sense 1a) fastened to a trap to prevent the escape of a trapped animal

6

: street, road

the main drag

7

sports : drag race

drag

3 of 4

noun (2)

1

: entertainment in which performers caricature or challenge gender stereotypes (as by dressing in clothing that is stereotypical of another gender, by using exaggeratedly gendered mannerisms, or by combining elements of stereotypically male and female dress) and often wear elaborate or outrageous costumes

… Atlanta … was, like, mecca for drag. It had the traditional drag queens who were female impersonators. But, you know, I had come from the punk rock side of the tracks, and we did drag as a social comment …

—RuPaul, quoted at npr.org

—often used before another noun

Drag shows are events where performers impersonate characters from a certain gender and often don elaborate costuming and makeup.

—Lauren Wavra

The drama sparked a conversation within the LGBTQ community regarding trans, female, and nonbinary drag performers.

—Xavier Piedra

see also drag king, drag queen

2

a

: the costumes worn by drag performers

performing in drag

also : stereotypically gendered clothing worn by someone who is of a different gender

… writing about her first experience … while in male drag …

—Anna Carey

b

: costume sense 2

What was perhaps most embarrassing about Cyrus' dismal gig was its cutesy toys—a giant teddy bear from which she popped to cavort with a dance troupe in fuzzy bear drag.

—Camille Paglia

especially : a costume used to impersonate a person or kind of person

… Paul Newman and Robert Redford romping about in bad-guy drag like naughty Hardy Boys ain't my idea of a western.

—Mark Goodman

drag

4 of 4

adjective

: of, being, involving, or intended for a person wearing clothing typical of the opposite sex : of, being, involving, or intended for a person in drag (see drag entry 3 sense 2a)

a drag ball

Phrases

drag one's feet or less commonly drag one's heels

: to act in a deliberately slow or dilatory manner

Synonyms

Verb

• draw
• hale
• haul
• lug
• pull
• tow
• tug

Noun (1)

• bore
• drip
• droner
• dullsville
• nudnik
• nudnick
• snooze
• snoozer
• yawn
• yawner

Examples of drag in a Sentence

Verb

She dragged one of the other tables over to ours.

Firefighters dragged the man to safety.

One of the parents eventually dragged the screaming toddler out of the store.

The broken muffler dragged behind the car.

The dog's leash was dragging along the ground.

The child is always dragging his blanket.

The puppy ran up to us, dragging her leash behind her.

He dragged himself up the stairs and climbed into bed.

Can you drag yourself away from that computer?

Noun (1)

My parents can be such a drag. They won't let me do anything.

These meetings are a total drag.

Let me have a drag from your cigarette.

He took a long drag on the cigarette.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

The longer the trade war drags on, the more likely Washington and Beijing will find other ways to retaliate beyond economics. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025

Paleontologists used to wonder if some marine reptiles did the same, awkwardly dragging themselves onto beaches to lay eggs rather than birthing their young at sea like whales do. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025

Noun

Speaking of stars, has your father done drag since his makeover? —Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 19 Apr. 2025

The sudden heating of the atmosphere when a CME hits thickens the gas around Earth, increasing the drag facing satellites in low Earth orbits. —Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 17 Apr. 2025

Adjective

This is not drag as camp; Jenna’s performances seem like a direct expression of psychic pain. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 Dec. 2024

That kind of lighthearted public exuberance has become unthinkable in the past two years, as drag has become a culture-war flash point, and half a dozen states, including Texas, have passed anti-drag legislation. —Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English draggen "to pull, draw, transport," of uncertain origin

Note: This verb has obvious semantic affinity with Old English dragan "to draw entry 1," but there is no evident explanation for /g/ and the short vowel; borrowing from Old Norse (compare Old Icelandic draga "to drag, pull") would also not result in a preserved /g/. Compare drag entry 2.

Noun (1)

Middle English dragge "dragnet, harrow, barge," of uncertain origin

Note: Later senses (in early Modern and Modern English) are largely by zero derivation (i.e., derivation of one part of speech from another without change of form) from drag entry 2. Though Middle English dragge has clear semantic and phonetic affinity with Old English dragan "to draw entry 1" and dræge "dragnet" (see dray entry 1), the /g/ is difficult to explain. Middle Low German draggen "grappling hook for boarding a ship" and sik draggen an "to board a ship" may well be related, but are too distant in sense to be a loan source. Compare drag entry 2.

Noun (2)

of obscure origin

Note: The word drag in the sense "female clothing worn by a man" (hence in drag "wearing female clothing") first appears in the newspaper records of the judicial examinations of Thomas Ernest Boulton (1847-1904) and William Frederick Park (1847-1881), both sons of wealthy families and amateur actors who engaged in cross-dressing. Boulton and Park, dressed as women, were arrested on April 28, 1870, as they were leaving the Strand Theatre in London and charged with "buggery" and conspiring to "openly and scandalously outrage public decency and corrupt public morals." (They were acquitted after a jury trial in May, 1871.) In the examination that took place on May 21, 1870, the hotelkeeper Edward Nelson Haxell testified that Amos Gibbings, part of the circle to which Boulton and Parks belonged, had told him that instead of arranging a musical party at the hotel, "he would make it a little fancy dress affair, and said 'We shall come in drag,' which means men wearing women's costumes." The judge then asked "This is the first time the meaning of the word 'drag' has been given in evidence?" There was no immediate reply, but Haxell later said "I never heard the slang phrase 'drag' used by anybody else than Gibbings." (Quotes are from Reynolds's Newspaper, May 29, 1870, p. 5.) The word was taken up by the press, notably in two imaginative wood-block engravings of William Frederick Park, one showing him in male dress labeled "Park in Mufti" and another in female dress labeled "Park in 'Drag'" (The Days' Doings, May 21, 1871, p. 8). It is unclear if this sense of drag has any relation to the earlier verb and noun. J. Redding Ware's dictionary (Passing English of the Victorian Era [London, 1909?]) has a citation from The Referee (July 24, 1887) containing the appropriate sense of drag ("Mrs Sheppard is now played by a man …I don't like to see low coms. in drag parts …") Ware's definition, however—"petticoat or skirt used by actors when playing female parts"—looks like a contrived attempt to explain a usage he did not completely understand, and his etymology ("Derived from the drag of the dress, as distinct from the non-dragginess of the trouser") is not very convincing. The acronymic explanation "dressed as a girl" is even less convincing. Paul Baker lists the word as both Polari (a lexicon used among gay men in Britain with roots in the argot of theatrical and circus performers) and general slang, a treatment also accorded to camp—see camp entry 3; see Fantabulosa : A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang (London, 2004), p. 112.

Adjective

from attributive use of drag entry 3

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a(1)

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun (2)

1870, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Adjective

1861, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing drag

• drag and drop
• drag bunt
• drag coefficient
• drag down
• drag into
• drag kicking and screaming
• drag king
• drag one's feet
• drag one's heels
• drag out
• drag queen
• drag race
• drag someone's name through the mud
• drag strip
• drag through the mire/mud
• in drag
• knock-down-and-drag-out
• knock-down, drag-out
• main drag

Rhymes for drag

• ag
• bag
• brag
• dag
• flag
• gag
• hag
• hagg
• lag
• mag
• nag
• rag

Kids Definition

drag

1 of 2 noun

ˈdrag 

1

: a device for dragging under water to detect or gather objects

2

: something without wheels (as a sledge for carrying heavy loads) that is dragged, pulled, or drawn along or over a surface

3

a

: the act or an instance of dragging or drawing

b

: a draw on a pipe, cigarette, or cigar : puff

also : a drink of liquid

4

a

: something that slows down motion

b

: the force acting on a body (as an airplane) to slow it down as the body moves through a fluid (as air)

c

: something that hinders or obstructs progress

5

: someone or something boring

6

: street sense 1, road

the main drag

drag

2 of 2 verb

dragged; dragging

1

a

: to haul slowly or heavily

dragging the suitcase across the room

b

: to move with slowness or difficulty

dragged myself up the stairs

c

: to bring by or as if by force

dragged them to the opera

d

: to pass or cause to pass slowly

the day dragged on

2

: to hang or lag behind

3

: to trail along on the ground

4

: to search or fish with a drag

5

: to take part in a drag race

6

: to move (an item on a computer screen) using a mouse

draggingly adverb