drag vs midge

drag

noun
  • Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; especially, a canvas bag with a hooped mouth (drag sail), so used. 

  • A men's party attended in women's clothing. 

  • A long open horse-drawn carriage with transverse or side seats. 

  • A heavy harrow for breaking up ground. 

  • A skid or shoe for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel. 

  • The bottom part of a sand casting mold. 

  • A double drum-stroke played at twice the speed of the context in which it is placed. 

  • Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating, or disappointing; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment. 

  • A device for guiding wood to the saw. 

  • A prison sentence of three months. 

  • A device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing. 

  • A puff on a cigarette or joint. 

  • The last position in a line of hikers. 

  • A systematic search for someone over a wide area, especially by the authorities; a dragnet. 

  • Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged. 

  • The scent-path left by dragging a fox, or some other substance such as aniseed, for training hounds to follow scents. 

  • Street, as in 'main drag'. 

  • A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone. 

  • A push somewhat under the centre of the cue ball, causing it to follow the object ball a short way. 

  • Any force acting in opposition to the motion of an object. 

  • A large amount of backspin on the cue ball, causing the cue ball to slow down. 

  • Witch house music. 

  • A kind of sledge for conveying heavy objects; also, a kind of low car or handcart. 

  • The bottom part of a flask or mould, the upper part being the cope. 

  • The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. 

  • A mailcoach. 

  • Resistance of a fluid to something moving through it. 

  • Any type of clothing or costume associated with a particular occupation or subculture. 

  • Men's clothing worn by women for the purpose of entertainment. 

  • A pulled load. 

  • Women's clothing worn by men for the purpose of entertainment. 

verb
  • To act or proceed slowly or without enthusiasm; to be reluctant. 

  • To roast, say negative things about, or call attention to the flaws of (someone). 

  • To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly. 

  • To pull along a surface or through a medium, sometimes with difficulty. 

  • To hit or kick off target. 

  • To break (land) by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow. 

  • To play at a slower tempo than one is supposed to or than the other musicians one is playing with, or to inadvertently gradually decrease tempo while one is playing. 

  • To perform as a drag queen or drag king. 

  • To operate a pointing device by moving it with a button held down; to move, copy, etc. (an item) in this way. 

  • To unintentionally rub or scrape on a surface. 

  • To draw along (something burdensome); hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty. 

  • To search for something, as a lost object or body, by dragging something along the bottom of a body of water. 

  • To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back. 

  • To search exhaustively, as if with a dragnet. 

  • To fish with a dragnet. 

midge

noun
  • any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge 

  • any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera 

How often have the words drag and midge occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )