drawl

Meanings

1. To drag on slowly and heavily; to dawdle or while away time indolently.
2. To utter or pronounce in a dull, spiritless tone, as if by dragging out the utterance.
3. To move slowly and heavily; to move in a dull, slow, lazy manner.
4. To speak with a slow, spiritless utterance, as from affectation, laziness, or lack of interest.

1. 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.

Etymology

From 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”).