DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Drag, n.
1. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.
2. A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.
3. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.
4. A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage. [Collog.]
5. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.
6. (a) 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). (b) Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel. (c) Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.
My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag. --J. D. Forbes.
7. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged. “Had a drag in his walk.”
8. Founding The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.
9. Masonry A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.
10. Marine Engin. 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. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3.
Drag sail Naut., a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel through the water in order to keep her head to the wind or to prevent drifting; -- called also drift sail, drag sheet, drag anchor, sea anchor, floating anchor, etc.
Drag twist Mining, a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.
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Float·ing, a.
1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.
3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt.
Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. --Macaulay.
Floating anchor Naut., a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
Floating battery Mil., a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place.
Floating bridge. (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau. (b) Mil. A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; -- used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort. (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power. (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock.
Floating cartilage Med., a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter.
Floating dam. (a) An anchored dam. (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.
Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc.
Floating dock. Naut. See under Dock.
Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward. --Knight.
Floating heart Bot., a small aquatic plant (Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds.
Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.
Floating kidney. Med. See Wandering kidney, under Wandering.
Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage.
Floating liver. Med. See Wandering liver, under Wandering.
Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide.
Floating ribs Anat., the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs.
Floating screed Plastering, a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat.
Floating threads Weaving, threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.