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Drag vs. Drift

Drag and Drift Definitions

Drag

To pull along with difficulty or effort; haul
Dragged the heavy box out of the way.

Drift

To be carried along by currents of air or water
A balloon drifting eastward.
As the wreckage drifted toward shore.

Drag

To cause to trail along a surface, especially the ground
Don't drag your coat in the mud.

Drift

To proceed or move unhurriedly or aimlessly
Drifting among the party guests.
A day laborer, drifting from town to town.

Drag

To move (a pointing device, such as a mouse) while pressing down on one of its buttons.

Drift

To live or behave without a clear purpose or goal
Drifted through his college years unable to decide on a career.
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Drag

To move (an element of a graphical display) on a computer screen using a pointing device.

Drift

To have no continuing focus; stray
My attention drifted during the boring presentation.

Drag

To cause to move with great effort
Dragged himself into the doctor's office.

Drift

To vary from or oscillate randomly about a fixed setting, position, or mode of operation.

Drag

To take or escort (a person, for example), especially in overcoming resistance or reluctance
Dragged my father to the reception.

Drift

To be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of a current
Snow drifting to five feet.
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Drag

To cause to be involved in an unpleasant or difficult situation
Why did you drag me into this mess?.

Drift

To cause to be carried in a current
Drifting the logs downstream.

Drag

To force or bring out with great effort
Dragged the truth out of the reluctant witness.

Drift

To pile up in banks or heaps
Wind drifted the loose straw against the barn.

Drag

To mention or introduce (an unpleasant or tedious subject)
Dragged up that embarrassing incident.
Is always dragging his money problems into the conversation.

Drift

Western US To drive (livestock) slowly or far afield, especially for grazing.
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Drag

To search or sweep the bottom of (a body of water), as with a grappling hook or dragnet
Dragged the river looking for the suitcase.

Drift

Something moving along in a current of air or water
A drift of logs in the river.

Drag

To bring up or catch by such means.

Drift

A bank or pile, as of sand or snow, heaped up by currents of air or water.

Drag

To prolong tediously
Dragged the story out.

Drift

(Geology) Rock debris transported and deposited by or from ice, especially by or from a glacier.

Drag

(Baseball) To hit (a bunt) while taking the first steps toward first base.

Drift

A general trend or tendency, as of opinion.

Drag

To break up, rake, or smooth out (land or dirt), especially by pulling a drag or heavy mesh
Dragged the infield between innings.

Drift

General meaning or purport; tenor
Caught the drift of the conversation.

Drag

(Informal) To humiliate or shame publicly, especially on social media
“Unknown Actor Gets Dragged by Twitter for Being the World's Worst Date” (Allure).

Drift

A gradual change in position
An iceberg's eastward drift.

Drag

To trail along the ground
The dog's leash dragged on the sidewalk.

Drift

A gradual deviation from an original course, model, method, or intention.

Drag

To move slowly or with effort
He dragged along behind us.

Drift

Variation or random oscillation about a fixed setting, position, or mode of behavior.

Drag

To pass or proceed slowly, tediously, or laboriously
The time dragged as we waited.

Drift

A gradual change in the output of a circuit or amplifier.

Drag

To search or dredge the bottom of a body of water
Dragging for the sunken craft.

Drift

The rate of flow of a water current.

Drag

To take part in a drag race.

Drift

A tool for ramming or driving something down.

Drag

To draw on a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.

Drift

A tapered steel pin for enlarging and aligning holes.

Drag

Something, such as a harrow or an implement for spreading manure, that is dragged along the ground.

Drift

A horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway in a mine running through or parallel to a vein.

Drag

A device, such as a grappling hook, that is used for dragging under water.

Drift

A secondary mine passageway between two main shafts or tunnels.

Drag

A heavy sledge or cart for hauling loads.

Drift

A drove or herd, especially of swine.

Drag

A large four-horse coach with seats inside and on top.

Drift

(physical) Movement; that which moves or is moved.

Drag

Something, such as a sea anchor or a brake on a fishing reel, that retards motion.

Drift

Anything driven at random.

Drag

One that impedes or slows progress; a drawback or burden
The drag of taxation on economic growth.

Drift

A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
A drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.

Drag

The degree of resistance involved in dragging or hauling.

Drift

The distance through which a current flows in a given time.

Drag

The retarding force exerted on a moving body by a fluid medium such as air or water.

Drift

A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.

Drag

The act of dragging, especially a slow, laborious movement.

Drift

A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.

Drag

The scent or trail of a fox or another animal.

Drift

Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.

Drag

Something that provides an artificial scent.

Drift

(obsolete) A driving; a violent movement.

Drag

(Slang) One that is obnoxiously tiresome
The evening was a real drag.

Drift

Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.

Drag

A puff on a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.

Drift

That which is driven, forced, or urged along.

Drag

(Slang) A street or road
The town's main drag.

Drift

The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.

Drag

The clothing characteristic of one sex when worn by a member of the opposite sex
An actor in drag.

Drift

A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.

Drag

Of, relating to, or being a person wearing clothing characteristic of the opposite sex
A drag performer.
A drag show.

Drift

The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.

Drag

Of a fluid to something moving through it.
When designing cars, manufacturers have to take drag into consideration.

Drift

(architecture) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.

Drag

(by analogy with above) Any force acting in opposition to the motion of an object.
A high thrust-to-weight ratio helps a rocket to overcome the effects of gravity drag.

Drift

(handiwork) A tool.

Drag

The bottom part of a sand casting mold.

Drift

A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.

Drag

(countable) A device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing.

Drift

A tool used to pack down the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

Drag

A systematic search for someone over a wide area, especially by the authorities; a dragnet.

Drift

A tool used to insert or extract a removable pin made of metal or hardwood, for the purpose of aligning and/or securing two pieces of material together.

Drag

A double drum-stroke played at twice the speed of the context in which it is placed.

Drift

A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.

Drag

A puff on a cigarette or joint.
He got high after just one drag of the joint.
Give me a drag on that roach!

Drift

(uncountable) Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.

Drag

Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating, or disappointing; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.
Travelling to work in the rush hour is a real drag.

Drift

The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.

Drag

A long open horse-drawn carriage with transverse or side seats.

Drift

(mining) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

Drag

Street, as in 'main drag'.

Drift

(nautical) Movement.

Drag

(countable) The scent-path left by dragging a fox, or some other substance such as aniseed, for training hounds to follow scents.
To run a drag

Drift

The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.

Drag

A large amount of backspin on the cue ball, causing the cue ball to slow down.

Drift

The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.

Drag

A heavy harrow for breaking up ground.

Drift

The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.

Drag

A kind of sledge for conveying heavy objects; also, a kind of low car or handcart.
A stone drag

Drift

The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

Drag

(metallurgy) The bottom part of a flask or mould, the upper part being the cope.

Drift

The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.

Drag

(masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.

Drift

(cricket) A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.

Drag

(nautical) 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.

Drift

Slow, cumulative change.
Genetic drift

Drag

Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; especially, a canvas bag with a hooped mouth (drag sail), so used.

Drift

In New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to be sold.

Drag

A pulled load.

Drift

(intransitive) To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
The boat drifted away from the shore.
The balloon was drifting in the breeze.

Drag

A skid or shoe for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel.

Drift

(intransitive) To move haphazardly without any destination.
He drifted from town to town, never settling down.

Drag

Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.

Drift

(intransitive) To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
This car tends to drift left at high speeds.

Drag

Witch house music.

Drift

(transitive) To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.

Drag

The last position in a line of hikers.

Drift

(transitive) To drive into heaps.
A current of wind drifts snow or sand

Drag

(billiards) A push somewhat under the centre of the cue ball, causing it to follow the object ball a short way.

Drift

(intransitive) To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
Snow or sand drifts.

Drag

A device for guiding wood to the saw.

Drift

To make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.

Drag

(historical) A mailcoach.

Drift

To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

Drag

(slang) A prison sentence of three months.

Drift

(automotive) To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See Drifting (motorsport).

Drag

Women's clothing worn by men for the purpose of entertainment.
He performed in drag.

Drift

A driving; a violent movement.
The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.

Drag

Men's clothing worn by women for the purpose of entertainment.

Drift

The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.

Drag

A men's party attended in women's clothing.

Drift

Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.

Drag

Any type of clothing or costume associated with a particular occupation or subculture.
Corporate drag

Drift

The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general.
Now thou knowest my drift.

Drag

(transitive) To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.
Let's drag this load of wood over to the shed.
The misbehaving child was dragged out of the classroom.

Drift

That which is driven, forced, or urged along
Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].

Drag

To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
Time seems to drag when you're waiting for a bus.

Drift

A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
Cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drift doing much damage to the high ways).

Drag

To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant.

Drift

The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.

Drag

To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.

Drift

A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the agency of ice.

Drag

To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.

Drift

In South Africa, a ford in a river.

Drag

(graphical user interface) To operate a pointing device by moving it with a button held down; to move, copy, etc. (an item) in this way.
Drag the file into the window to open it.

Drift

A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.

Drag

(chiefly of a vehicle) To unintentionally rub or scrape on a surface.
The car was so low to the ground that its muffler was dragging on a speed bump.

Drift

A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

Drag

(soccer) To hit or kick off target.

Drift

A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

Drag

To fish with a dragnet.

Drift

The distance through which a current flows in a given time.

Drag

To search for something, as a lost object or body, by dragging something along the bottom of a body of water.

Drift

The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.

Drag

To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow.

Drift

One of the slower movements of oceanic circulation; a general tendency of the water, subject to occasional or frequent diversion or reversal by the wind; as, the easterly drift of the North Pacific.

Drag

(figurative) To search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet.

Drift

The horizontal component of the pressure of the air on the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine. The lift is the corresponding vertical component, which sustains the machine in the air.

Drag

(slang) To roast, say negative things about, or call attention to the flaws of (someone).
You just drag him 'cause he's got more money than you.

Drift

To float or be driven along by, or as by, a current of water or air; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore; the balloon drifts slowly east.
We drifted o'er the harbor bar.

Drag

To play at a slower tempo than one is supposed to or than the other musicians one is playing with, or to inadvertently gradually decrease tempo while one is playing.

Drift

To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.

Drag

To perform as a drag queen or drag king.

Drift

To make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.

Drag

A confection; a comfit; a drug.

Drift

To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.

Drag

The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.

Drift

To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or sand.

Drag

A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.

Drift

To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

Drag

A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.

Drift

That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.

Drag

A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage.

Drift

A force that moves something along

Drag

A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.

Drift

The gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)

Drag

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 Drag sail (below).
My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.

Drift

A process of linguistic change over a period of time

Drag

Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.

Drift

Something that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents

Drag

The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.

Drift

A general tendency to change (as of opinion);
Not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book
A broad movement of the electorate to the right

Drag

A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.

Drift

General meaning or tenor;
Caught the drift of the conversation

Drag

To draw slowly or heavily onward; to pull along the ground by main force; to haul; to trail; - applied to drawing heavy or resisting bodies or those inapt for drawing, 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.
The grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.
A needless Alexandrine ends the songThat, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

Drift

A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine;
They dug a drift parallel with the vein

Drag

To break, as land, by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow; to draw a drag along the bottom of, as a stream or other water; hence, to search, as by means of a drag.
Then while I dragged my brains for such a song.

Drift

Be in motion due to some air or water current;
The leaves were blowing in the wind
The boat drifted on the lake
The sailboat was adrift on the open sea
The shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore

Drag

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

Drift

Wander from a direct course or at random;
The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her
Don't drift from the set course

Drag

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.

Drift

Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment;
The gypsies roamed the woods
Roving vagabonds
The wandering Jew
The cattle roam across the prairie
The laborers drift from one town to the next
They rolled from town to town

Drag

To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun.
Long, open panegyric drags at best.

Drift

Vary or move from a fixed point or course;
Stock prices are drifting higher

Drag

To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.
A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her.

Drift

Live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely;
My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school

Drag

To fish with a dragnet.

Drift

Move in an unhurried fashion;
The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests

Drag

The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid

Drift

Cause to be carried by a current;
Drift the boats downstream

Drag

Something that slows or delays progress;
Taxation is a drag on the economy
Too many laws are a drag on the use of new land

Drift

Drive slowly and far afield for grazing;
Drift the cattle herds westwards

Drag

Something tedious and boring;
Peeling potatoes is a drag

Drift

Be subject to fluctuation;
The stock market drifted upward

Drag

Clothing that is conventionally worn by the opposite sex (especially women's clothing when worn by a man);
He went to the party dressed in drag
The waitresses looked like missionaries in drag

Drift

Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current;
Snow drifting several feet high
Sand drifting like snow

Drag

A slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke);
He took a puff on his pipe
He took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly

Drag

The act of dragging (pulling with force);
The drag up the hill exhausted him

Drag

Pull, as against a resistance;
He dragged the big suitcase behind him
These worries were dragging at him

Drag

Draw slowly or heavily;
Haul stones
Haul nets

Drag

Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action;
They were swept up by the events
Don't drag me into this business

Drag

Move slowly and as if with great effort

Drag

To lag or linger behind;
But in so many other areas we still are dragging

Drag

Suck in or take (air);
Draw a deep breath
Draw on a cigarette

Drag

Use a computer mouse to move icons on the screen and select commands from a menu;
Drag this icon to the lower right hand corner of the screen

Drag

Walk without lifting the feet

Drag

Search (as the bottom of a body of water) for something valuable or lost

Drag

Persuade to come away from something attractive or interesting;
He dragged me away from the television set

Drag

Proceed for an extended period of time;
The speech dragged on for two hours

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