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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

drail.

A hook with a lead shank.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/dɹeɪl/
  1. A hook with a lead shank.

  2. The piece of lead around the shank of such a hook.

  3. The iron bow of a plough from which the traces draw.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English *drailen (attested as drailed), a variant of Middle English trailen (“to hang loosely, drag along, drag away”), from a merger of Old French trailer, traillier (“to trail”) and Old English trǣġlian, trǣġelian (“to pluck, pull away”). The alteration of trailen to drailen was probably due to influence from Middle English dragan, drawen (“to drag, draw”).

verb/dɹeɪl/
  1. To trawl.

    intransitive · obsolete
    drailing for mackerel
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *drailen (attested as drailed), a variant of Middle English trailen (“to hang loosely, drag along, drag away”), from a merger of Old French trailer, traillier (“to trail”) and Old English trǣġlian, trǣġelian (“to pluck, pull away”). The alteration of trailen to drailen was probably due to influence from Middle English dragan, drawen (“to drag, draw”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.