drawl

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɹɔːl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɹɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /dɹɑl/
• (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?) (US, paragon) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɹɑːw/

Rhymes: -ɔːl

Verb

drawl (third-person singular simple present drawls, present participle drawling, simple past and past participle drawled)

1. (transitive) To drag on slowly and heavily; to while or dawdle away time indolently.
2. (transitive) To utter or pronounce in a dull, spiritless tone, as if by dragging out the utterance.
3. (intransitive) To move slowly and heavily; move in a dull, slow, lazy manner.
4. (intransitive) To speak with a slow, spiritless utterance, from affectation, laziness, or lack of interest.
   • 1828, Walter Savage Landor, “Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     talk sometimes a pestilence , and sometimes a hero , mostly in a drawling and dreaming way about it

Translations

to speak with a drawl

• Bulgarian: говоря провлечено (govorja provlečeno)
• Czech: mumlat impf, zamumlat pf, mluvit pomalu impf
• Dutch: lijzig spreken
• German: gedehnt sprechen, schleppend sprechen
• Romanian: tărăgăna (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: razvlačiti (sh), otezati (sh)
• Swedish: söla (sv)
• Ukrainian: розтягувати слова (roztjahuvaty slova), протягнути (protjahnuty)

Noun

drawl (plural drawls)

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.

Derived terms

• Southern drawl

Translations

way of speaking slowly

• Bulgarian: провлечен говор (provlečen govor)
• Czech: jižanský přízvuk, pomalý styl řeči
• German: gedehnte Aussprache f, gedehnte Sprechweise f
• Italian: strascico (it) m
• Serbo-Croatian: razvlačenje, otezanje
• Swedish: sludder (sv), släpigt tal

See also

• brogue
• lilt
• lisp
• twang