Drag | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Drāg, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. DRAGGED (drāgd); p. pr. & vb. n. DRAGGING.] [A-S. & O. Sax. dragan, to drag, draw, bear, D. dragen, Icel. & Sw. draga, Dan. drage, Goth. dragan, Ger. tragen, allied to Lat. trahere. Cf. DRAW.]

Sense 1. To draw along the ground by main force; to cause to move slowly or heavily onward by pulling; to pull; to haul;—applied particularly to drawing heavy bodies 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. Denham.

Sense 2. To break, as land, by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow; to pass through with a drag, as a stream or harbor-bed.

Sense 3. To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty. “Have dragged a lingering life.” Dryden.

Synonyms—See DRAW.

Drāg, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To be drawn along, as a rope or dress, on the ground; to be moved onward along the ground, or along the bottom of the sea, as an anchor that does not hold. 2. To move heavily, laboriously, or slowly onward; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly. The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun. Byron. 3. To fish with a drag; as, they have been dragging for fish all day, with little success.

Drāg, n.

noun

n. [A-S. dræge, from dragan. See supra.]

Sense 1. A net, to be drawn along the bottom under water, for the purpose of bringing sunken bodies to the surface.

Sense 2. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; as, a stone-drag.

Sense 3. A carriage or coach. [Eng.] Thackeray.

Sense 4. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.

Sense 5. Something thrown out behind a moving body to retard its progress; a clog; a wagon-shoe.

Sense 6. A heavy motion, as if dragged along. “Had a drag in his walk.” Hazlitt.

Sense 7. (Founding.) The bottom part of a flask;—called also drag-box.

Sense 8. (Masonry.) A thin plate of steel, indented on the edge, used for finishing the dressing of soft stone, which has no grit. Ogilvie.

Sense 9. (Marine Engin.) The difference between the speed of a screw-ship 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.