dragline

noun

drag·​line ˈdrag-ˌlīn 

1

: a line used in or for dragging

2

: an excavating machine in which the bucket is attached by cables and operates by being drawn toward the machine

3

: a strong stiff strand of silk produced by a spider especially to form the framework of its web and as a means of lowering itself from and returning to a height

Examples of dragline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Steam shovels and draglines excavated the foundations for highways and railroads. — Malika Bowling, USA Today, 3 July 2026

Other mining jobs include continuous mining machine operators, excavating/loading machine and dragline operators, and construction equipment operators. — Noël Fletcher, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025

Male spiders usually produced a dragline anchored to the female's web during courtship, which remained in place while mating. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 25 Apr. 2022

Two gravel washing towers and a dragline that belonged to the family, along with some other unidentified construction tools that built the lake were left on site. — Dallas News, 30 June 2021

In the 1980s and ’90s many mining companies turned to mountaintop removal, a hyper-efficient mix of explosives, draglines and dozers that undoes hundreds of millions of years of geology in minutes. — Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2020

Traditional cranes with clamshell or dragline buckets could do many things also, but not nearly as efficiently as a modern trackhoe. — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 29 Sep. 2019

Tom worked as a dragline operator many years before employment at Broward Schools in the Central Warehouse. — Sun-Sentinel.com, 23 Mar. 2018

Jumping spiders, for example, shoot a dragline from their abdomen for stability. — Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 5 Mar. 2015

Word History

First Known Use

1739, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dragline

• affine
• airline
• align
• aline
• assign
• baseline
• beamline
• benign
• bloodline
• bovine
• brucine
• byline