Word.ws English Dictionary

drag the chain

drag the chain verb: to fall behind relative to others.

Verb

drag the chain (third-person singular simple present drags the chain, present participle dragging the chain, simple past and past participle dragged the chain)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To fall behind relative to others.
  2. (idiomatic, informal) To unwittingly hold up progress.
  3. (idiomatic, informal) To deliberately hold up progress by acting slowly.

Forms of drag the chain

third-person singular presentdrags the chain
present participledragging the chain
past participledragged the chain
pastdragged the chain

Origin of drag the chain

The term stems from the railway industry when chains and hooks connected the carriages or goods trucks. If the rear chain came loose from the secured position, it would then drag on the ground slowing progress.

Questions about drag the chain

What does drag the chain mean?
Drag the chain means to fall behind relative to others.
What part of speech is drag the chain?
Drag the chain is a verb.
What is the past tense of drag the chain?
The past tense of drag the chain is dragged the chain.

Words near drag the chain in the dictionary

  1. drag sails
  2. drag show
  3. drag shows
  4. drag strip
  5. drag strips
  6. drag the chain
  7. drag through the dirt
  8. drag through the mud
  9. drag up
  10. drag-along right
  11. drag-along rights

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drag the chain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “drag the chain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drag_the_chain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.