Drag
Drag turns up in 2 fields: railroad, building. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Drag in railroad
A slow, heavy, low-priority freight train, often of bulk loads or empties.
A drag lumbers along with heavy tonnage and little horsepower per ton, and it gets put in the hole for nearly everything. Coal loads, ballast trains and long strings of empties all earn the name. Crews on a drag plan their meal breaks around sitting in sidings, and an engineer with years on drags knows every grade and sag on the division by feel.
"Called for the empty coal drag to the mine again, see you in twelve hours if we make it that far."
Drag in building
A toothed steel tool used by stonemasons to level and finish the surface of soft stone.
This traditional hand tool resembles a comb or a piece of saw blade and is drawn across the face of soft masonry, such as limestone. It removes saw marks, high spots, and irregularities left by chisels to create a uniform, textured finish. Masons use it in sweeping motions to prepare the stone face for final smoothing or to leave a deliberate parallel grain.
"Grab the drag and knock down those high spots on the limestone sill before we set it."