What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Scuffle vs Drag - What's the difference?

scuffle | drag |

As nouns the difference between scuffle and drag

is that scuffle is a rough disorderly fight or struggle at close quarters while drag is (uncountable) resistance of the air (or some other fluid) to something moving through it or drag can be (uncountable|slang) women's clothing worn by men for the purpose of entertainment.

As verbs the difference between scuffle and drag

is that scuffle is to fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters while drag is to pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.

scuffle

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A rough disorderly fight or struggle at close quarters
  • * L'Estrange
  • The dog leaps upon the serpent, and tears it to pieces; but in the scuffle the cradle happened to be overturned.
  • A Dutch hoe, manipulated by both pushing and pulling
  • (archaic) A child's pinafore or bib.
  • Synonyms

    * (Dutch hoe) scuffle hoe

    Verb

    (scuffl)
  • To fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters.
  • * Eikon Basilike
  • A gallant man had rather fight to great disadvantage in the field, in an orderly way, than scuffle with an undisciplined rabble.
  • To walk with a shuffling gait.
  • (slang) To make a living with difficulty, getting by on a low income, to struggle financially.
  • drag

    English

    (wikipedia drag)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

  • To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty.
  • To move slowly.
  • To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= James R. Carter
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Flowers and Ribbons of Ice , passage=Dragging yourself out of a warm bed in the early hours of a wintry morning to go for a hike in the woods: It’s not an easy thing for some to do, but the visual treasures that await could be well worth the effort. If the weather conditions and the local flora are just right, you might come across fleeting, delicate frozen formations sprouting from certain plant stems, literally a garden of ice.}}
  • To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.
  • * Byron
  • The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun.
  • * Gay
  • Long, open panegyric drags at best.
  • To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.
  • * Dryden
  • have dragged a lingering life
  • To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.
  • * Russell
  • A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her.
  • (computing) To move (an item) on the computer display by means of a mouse or other input device.
  • To inadvertently rub or scrape on a surface.
  • To perform as a drag queen or drag king.
  • (soccer) To hit or kick off target.
  • * November 17 2012 , BBC Sport: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20278355]
  • Arsenal were struggling for any sort of rhythm and Aaron Lennon dragged an effort inches wide as Tottenham pressed for a second.
  • To fish with a dragnet.
  • To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow.
  • (figurative) To search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet.
  • * Tennyson
  • while I dragged my brains for such a song
    Derived terms
    * drag one's feet * dragline * what the cat dragged in

    Noun

  • (uncountable) Resistance of the air (or some other fluid) to something moving through it.
  • When designing cars, manufacturers have to take drag into consideration.
  • (countable, foundry) The bottom part of a sand casting mold.
  • (countable) A device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing.
  • (countable, informal) A puff on a cigarette or joint.
  • (countable, slang) Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.
  • Travelling to work in the rush hour is a real drag .
  • * J. D. Forbes
  • My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag .
  • (countable, slang) Someone or something that is disappointing.
  • (countable, slang) Horse-drawn wagon or buggy.
  • (Thackeray)
  • (countable, slang) Street, as in 'main drag'.
  • (countable) The scent-path left by dragging a fox, for training hounds to follow scents.
  • to run a drag
  • (countable, snooker) A large amount of backspin on the cue ball, causing the cue ball to slow down.
  • A heavy harrow for breaking up ground.
  • A kind of sledge for conveying heavy objects; also, a kind of low car or handcart.
  • a stone drag
  • (metallurgy) The bottom part of a flask or mould, the upper part being the cope.
  • (masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.
  • (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.
  • 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.
  • A skid or shoe for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel.
  • Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged.
  • * Hazlitt
  • Had a drag in his walk.
    Derived terms
    * drag race * main drag

    Etymology 2

    Possibly from (etyl) Douglas Harper, "camp (n.)" in Online Etymology Dictionary , 2001ff

    Noun

    (-)
  • (uncountable, slang) Women's clothing worn by men for the purpose of entertainment.
  • He performed in drag .
  • (uncountable, slang) Any type of clothing or costume associated with a particular occupation or subculture.
  • corporate drag
    Derived terms
    * drag king * drag queen * drag show

    References

    * Flight, 1913, p. 126] attributing to [[w:Archibald Low, Archibald Low] *