/dɹɔːl/, /dɹɔl/, /dɹɑl/
OriginFrom a modern frequentative form of draw, equivalent to draw + -le. Compare draggle. Compare also Dutch dralen (“to drag out, delay, linger, tarry, dawdle”), Old Danish dravle (“to linger, loiter”), Icelandic dralla (“to loiter, linger”).
- transitiveTo drag on slowly and heavily; to dawdle or while away time indolently.
- transitiveTo utter or pronounce in a dull, spiritless tone, as if by dragging out the utterance.
- intransitiveTo move slowly and heavily; to move in a dull, slow, lazy manner.
“Tush, tush, Tarleton, Kemp, nor Singer, nor all the litter of Fooles that now come drawling behinde them, neuer plaid the Clownes more naturally then the arrantest Sot of you all, shall, if hee will b”
“Looke what leysure the old bearded Bawd takes / How softly she goes / How one leg comes drawling after another / Now she has her money, her armes are broken.”
- intransitiveTo speak with a slow, spiritless utterance, as from affectation, laziness, or lack of interest.
“talk sometimes a pestilence , and sometimes a hero , mostly in a drawling and dreaming way about it”
- A way of speaking slowly while lengthening vowel sounds and running words together, characteristic of some Southern US accents, as well as Broad Australian, Broad New Zealand, and Scots.
Formsdrawls(present, singular, third-person) · drawling(participle, present) · drawled(participle, past) · drawled(past) · drawls(plural)