Verb

(es)

(followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).

Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.

* 1957 , :

*:The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 9 , author=John Percy , title=Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report , work=the Telegraph citation , page= , passage=Already guarding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham’s reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post.}}

To drive by inches, or small degrees.

* Dryden

He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.

To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.

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