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to drawl

to drawl

5 7.9
To speak slowly with long vowel sounds
  • verb
  • /drɔl/
translation icon : arrastrar las palabras
  • "Come on, you don't like frog legs with lemon and butter?" he drawled in disbelief.
  • voice drawled
  • drawled the word
  • drawled slowly

Examples

  • "Oh, he's been sick," he drawled, looking sadly at the dog.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • "You been spying on your cousin Max, have you?" he drawled with a Southern twang.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • "My God," Rhett drawled, "I might as well go beg Sally to run away with me."

    Fiction book (1991)
  • "Well, Chalky," he drawled, my father's nickname, "maybe we best win today after all, huh?"

    Fiction book (2000)
  • "Where does a glassblower work, I wonder?" Aristotle drawled, giving us a lazy version of his wide, off-center smile.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • "Well, now," Marino's voice coolly drawled, "that's mighty nice of you, Matt.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • "It's the weather," Erbie drawled, thumping the harmonica against the heel of his palm.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • "Goodness, what a lovely sight;" Sardan drawled sarcastically, stepping up beside her and following her gaze.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • "Ain't y'all never seen a mud man before?" she drawled, savoring the juiciness of her chewing gum.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • "I can't believe they actually did that," he drewl slowly, clearly unimpressed.

Synonyms

to intone
vsto drawl
3 7.2

Say words slowly in a steady, sometimes flat or musical voice

speaks slowly and lazily with long, prolonged vowel sounds

How Fast

to gabble
1 7.9
to rattle off
  • Informal
11 4.8
to speak
1.0
to drawl
5 7.9

Surface Forms

drawl infinitive
drawing present participle
drawls third person singular
drewl past
drawled past participle

Morphology

drawl = draw (semi-transparent) = draw + l

Formed from 'draw' + suffix '-l' producing an action/state meaning; the semantic link to 'drawing out' speech is clear but the suffix is not a productive, widely-known morpheme for learners.

Etymology

Drawl as a verb comes from the verb draw, meaning 'to pull', with the ending -le that makes the action continue. So to drawl is to 'pull out' your words and speak slowly.