Part 3443

<blockquote>Then while I <b>dragged</b> my brains for such a song. <i>Tennyson.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.</def>

<blockquote>Have <b>dragged</b> a lingering life. <i> Dryden.</i></blockquote>

<cs><col>To drag an anchor</col> <fld>(Naut.)</fld>, <cd>to trail it along the bottom when the anchor will not hold the ship.</cd></cs>

<syn>Syn. -- See <er>Draw</er>.</syn>

<h1>Drag</h1> <Xpage=450>

<hw>Drag</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To be drawn along, as a rope or dress, on the ground; to trail; to be moved onward along the ground, or along the bottom of the sea, as an anchor that does not hold.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.</def>

<blockquote>The day <b>drags</b> through, though storms keep out the sun. <i>Byron.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Long, open panegyric <b>drags</b> at best. <i> Gay.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.</def>

<blockquote>A propeller is said to <b>drag</b> when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her. <i>Russell.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>To fish with a dragnet.</def>

<h1>Drag</h1> <Xpage=450>

<hw>Drag</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[See <er>Drag</er>, <tt>v. t.</tt>, and cf. <er>Dray</er> a cart, and 1st <er>Dredge</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; <as>as, a stone <ex>drag</ex></as>.</def>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage.</def> <mark>[Collog.]</mark>

<i>Thackeray.</i>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.</def>

<p><b>6.</b> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; esp., a canvas bag with a hooped mouth, so used. See <cref>Drag sail</cref> (below).</def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel</def>. <sd>(c)</sd> <def>Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.</def>

<blockquote>My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no <b>drag</b>. <i>J. D. Forbes.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>7.</b> <def>Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.</def> "Had a <i>drag</i> in his walk."

<i> Hazlitt.</i>

<p><b>8.</b> <fld>(Founding)</fld> <def>The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.</def>

<p><b>9.</b> <fld>(Masonry)</fld> <def>A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.</def>

<p><b>10.</b> <fld>(Marine Engin.)</fld> <def>The difference between the speed of a screw steamer 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. See Citation under <er>Drag</er>, <tt>v. i.</tt>, <i>3</i>.</def>