Drag
A short, flat-out car race from a standing start — or something boring.
Definitions
To publicly tear into someone — pile on receipts, screenshots and one-liners until they're cooked. Sharper and more personal than a normal roast; the audience is part of the punishment.
(noun) The act or instance of being dragged — a sustained public roasting.
In Polari, drag simply meant clothes — particularly the sort you weren't expected to be wearing. That's the through-line to the modern art form: a drag queen is, at root, someone in clothing society didn't assign them. The word predates Polari in theatre slang (one theory: gowns 'dragging' along the floor), but Polari is where it lived in 20th-century British gay speech before going global.
Something tedious or boring (from jazz slang).
A short, straight-line acceleration race between cars, usually from a dead stop.
The main street where teens cruised and raced.
Drag In A Sentence
Origin & Usage
1950s American hot-rod culture gave 'drag' its racing sense (a short straight sprint, hence 'drag racing'), while the 'boring thing' sense traces back to 1940s jazz slang. The 'main drag' meaning of a town's central street is older still.
People Also Ask
What does drag mean in slang?
It can mean a short straight-line car race, the main cruising street, or something boring and tedious, depending on context.
Where did drag racing come from?
The racing sense of 'drag' grew out of 1950s American hot-rod culture, describing a flat-out sprint between cars from a standing start.
Why does drag also mean boring?
That sense comes from 1940s jazz slang, where a 'drag' was anything dull or tiresome that weighed you down.
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