Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: COMPUTERS

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old Norse
Origin: draga or Old English dragan; DRAW1

drag

1 verb
     
drag1 S3 W3 past tense and past participle dragged, present participle dragging
1

pull something

[transitive] to pull something along the ground, often because it is too heavy to carry
drag something away/along/through etc
Inge managed to drag the table into the kitchen.
2

pull somebody

[transitive always + adverb/preposition] to pull someone somewhere where they do not want to go, in a way that is not gentle:
He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the room.
3

drag yourself to/into/out of etc something

informal to move somewhere with difficulty, especially because you are ill, tired, or unhappy:
I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom.
Can you drag yourself away from (=stop watching) the TV for a minute?
4

persuade somebody to come

[transitive always + adverb/preposition] informal if you drag someone somewhere, you persuade or force them to come with you when they do not want to:
Mom dragged us to a classical music concert.
5TD

computer

[transitive] to move words, pictures etc on a computer screen by pulling them along with the mouse:
You can drag and drop text like this.
6

be boring

[intransitive] if time or an event drags, it seems to go very slowly because nothing interesting is happening:
Friday afternoons always drag.
7

touch the ground

[intransitive] if something is dragging along the ground, part of it is touching the ground as you move
drag along/in/on
Your coat's dragging in the mud.
8

drag your feet/heels

informal to take too much time to do something because you do not want to do it:
The authorities are dragging their feet over banning cigarette advertising.
9

drag a lake/river etc

SCP to look for something in a lake, river etc by pulling a heavy net along the bottom:
The police are dragging the lake for the missing girl's body.
10

drag somebody's name through the mud

to tell people about the bad things that someone has done, so that they will have a bad opinion of them
11

drag somebody through the courts

to force someone to go to a court of law, especially in order to make them have a bad experience because you are angry with them
12

drag somebody kicking and screaming into something

to force someone to do something that they do not want to - used humorously:
The party will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
13

look as if you've been dragged through a hedge backwards

to look very untidy - used humorously
14

injured leg/foot

[transitive] if you drag your leg, foot etc, you cannot lift it off the ground as you walk because it is injured:
a bird dragging its broken wing

drag somebody/something ↔ down

phrasal verb
1 to make someone feel unhappy and weak:
Joe's been ill for weeks now - it's really dragging him down.
2 to make the price, level, or quality of something go down:
Declining prices for aluminium have dragged down the company's earnings.
3 if someone or something bad drags you down, they make you become worse or get into a worse situation:
Don't let them drag you down to their level.

drag somebody/something into something

phrasal verb
1 to make someone get involved in an argument, war, or other unpleasant situation that they do not want to be involved in:
I'm sorry to drag you into this mess.
2 to talk about something when you are having a discussion or argument, even though it is not connected with it:
Don't drag my past into this!

drag on

phrasal verb
if an event or situation drags on, it continues for too long
drag on for
an expensive court battle that could drag on for years

drag something ↔ out

phrasal verb
to make an event or situation last longer than is necessary:
Neither of them wanted to drag the divorce out longer than they had to.

drag something out of somebody

phrasal verb
to make someone tell you something when they had not intended to tell you or were not supposed to tell you:
Police finally dragged a confession out of him.

drag somebody/something ↔ up

phrasal verb
1 to mention an unpleasant or embarrassing story from the past, even though it upsets someone:
Why do you have to drag that up again?
2

be dragged up

British English if a child is dragged up, their parents do not teach them to behave properly - used humorously:
Those children have been dragged up, not brought up!
Definition of drag from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
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