Online Etymology Dictionary

drag (n.): c. 1300, "dragnet," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish dragg "grapnel") or from Old English dræge "dragnet," related to dragan "to draw" (see drag (v.)).

Sense of "annoying, boring person or thing" is 1813, perhaps from the notion of something that must be dragged as an impediment. Sense of "women's clothing worn by a man" is said to be 1870 theater slang, from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor (another guess is Yiddish trogn "to wear," from German tragen); drag queen is from 1941.

Drag racing (1947), is said to be from thieves' slang drag "automobile" (1935), perhaps ultimately from slang sense of "wagon, buggy" (1755), because a horse would drag it. By 1851 this was transferred to "street," as in the phrase main drag (which some propose as the source of the racing sense).
In addition to the time trials there are a number of "drag races" between two or more cars. They are run, not for record, but to satisfy the desire of most Americans to see who can get from here to there in the fastest time. ["Popular Mechanics," January 1947]
draggle (v.): 1510s, frequentative of drag (v.). This led to draggle-tail "sloppy woman, woman whose skirts are wet and draggled" (1590s). Related: Draggled.
dragnet (n.): Old English drægnet, a net to drag the bottom of a body of water in fishing; see drag (v.) + net (n.). Figurative use is from 1640s; police sense attested by 1894.
dragoman (n.): early 14c., from Old French drugemen, from late Greek dragoumanos, from Arabic targuman "interpreter," from targama "interpret." Treated in English as a compound, with plural -men.
dragon (n.): early 13c., from Old French dragon, from Latin draconem (nominative draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Greek drakon (genitive drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see." Perhaps the literal sense is "the one with the (deadly) glance."

The young are dragonets (14c.). Obsolete drake "dragon" is an older borrowing of the same word. Used in the Bible to translate Hebrew tannin "a great sea-monster," and tan, a desert mammal now believed to be the jackal.
dragonfly (n.): 1620s, from dragon + fly (n.).
dragoon (n.): 1620s, from French dragon "carbine, musket," because the guns the soldiers carried "breathed fire" like dragons (see dragon). Also see -oon.
dragoon (v.): 1680s, literally "to force by the agency of dragoons" (which were used by the French kings to persecute Protestants), from dragoon (n.). Related: Dragooned; dragooning.
dragster (n.): 1954, from drag (n.) in the racing sense + -ster, perhaps abstracted from roadster.
drain (v.): Old English dreahnian "to drain, strain out," from Proto-Germanic *dreug-, source of drought, dry, giving the English word originally a sense of "make dry." Figurative meaning of "exhaust" is attested from 1650s. The word is not found in surviving texts between late Old English and the 1500s. Related: Drained; draining.
drain (n.): 1550s, from drain (v.).
drainage (n.): 1650s, from drain + -age.
drake (n.1): "male duck," c. 1300, unrecorded in Old English but may have existed then, from West Germanic *drako (source also of Low German drake, second element of Old High German anutrehho, dialectal German Drache).
drake (n.2): archaic for "dragon," from Old English draca "dragon, sea monster, huge serpent," from Proto-Germanic *drako (source also of Middle Dutch and Old Frisian drake, Dutch draak, Old High German trahho, German drache), an early borrowing from Latin draco (see dragon).
dram (n.): mid-15c., "small weight of apothecary's measure," a phonetic spelling, from Anglo-Latin dragma, Old French drame, from Late Latin dragma, from Latin drachma "drachma," from Greek drakhma "measure of weight," also, "silver coin," literally "handful" (of six obols, the least valuable coins in ancient Athens), akin to drassesthai "to grasp." The fluid dram is one-eighth of a fluid ounce, hence "a small drink of liquor" (1713); Hence dram shop (1725), where liquor was sold by the shot.
drama (n.): 1510s, from Late Latin drama "play, drama," from Greek drama (genitive dramatos) "play, action, deed," from dran "to do, act, perform" (especially some great deed, whether good or bad), from PIE *dere- "to work." Drama queen attested by 1992.
Dramamine: proprietary name of an anti-nausea drug, 1949. Said to have been originally developed as an anti-allergy drug at Johns Hopkins.
dramatic (adj.): 1580s, from Late Latin dramaticus, from Greek dramatikos "pertaining to plays," from drama (genitive dramatos; see drama). Meaning "full of action and striking display, fit for a drama" is from 1725. Dramatic irony is recorded from 1907. Related: Dramatical; dramatically.
dramatis personae: Latin for "persons of a drama."
dramatist (n.): 1670s, see drama (Greek stem dramat-) + -ist.
dramatization (n.): 1796, from dramatize + -ation.
dramatize (v.): 1780s, "to adopt for the stage," see drama (Greek stem dramat-) + -ize. Meaning "to act out" is from 1823. Related: Dramatized; dramatizing.
dramaturge (n.): "dramatist," 1870, from French dramaturge, from Greek dramatourgos "a dramatist," from drama (genitive dramatos) + ergos "worker" (see organ).
dramaturgy (n.): "composition and production of plays," 1801, from French dramaturgie, from Greek dramatourgia, from drama (genitive dramatos) + ergos "worker" (see organ).
Drambuie (n.): 1893, proprietary name of a whiskey liqueur manufactured in Scotland.
drang nach Osten (n.): 1906, former German imperial policy of eastward expansion; literally "pressure to the east."
drank: Old English dranc, singular past tense of drink. It also became past participle 17c.-19c., probably to avoid the pejorative associations of drunk.
drape (v.): c. 1400, "to ornament with cloth hangings;" mid-15c., "to weave into cloth," from Old French draper "to weave, make cloth" (13c.), from drap "cloth, piece of cloth, sheet, bandage," from Late Latin drapus, perhaps of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish drapih "mantle, garment"). Meaning "to cover with drapery" is from 1847. Meaning "to cause to hang or stretch out loosely or carelessly" is from 1943. Related: Draped; draping.
drape (n.): 1660s, from drape (v.). Jive talk slang for "suit of clothes" is attested from 1945.
draper (n.): mid-14c. (mid-12c. as a surname), "one who weaves and/or sells cloth," from Anglo-French draper, Old French drapier (13c.) "draper, clothes-seller, clothes-maker," agent noun from drap (see drape (v.)).
drapery (n.): early 14c., "cloth, textiles," from Old French draperie (12c.) "weaving, cloth-making, clothes shop," from drap (see drape (n.)). From late 14c. as "place where cloth is made; cloth market." Meaning "stuff with which something is draped" is 1680s.
drapes (n.): "curtains," 1895, see drape (n.).
drastic (adj.): 1690s, originally medical, "forceful, vigorous, especially in effect on bowels," from Greek drastikos "effective, efficacious; active, violent," from drasteon "(thing) to be done," from dran "to do, act, perform." Sense of "extreme, severe" is first recorded 1808. Related: Drastically.
drat: 1815, disguised form of exclamation God rot (something or someone).
draught (n.): c. 1200, from Old English *dreaht, *dræht, related to dragan "to draw, drag" (see drag (v.)). Oldest sense besides that of "pulling" is of "drinking." It retains the functions that did not branch off with draft (q.v.).
draughts (n.): British name for the tabletop game that in U.S. is checkers, c. 1400, from draught, perhaps because the pieces are "dragged" over the board in moves. Earlier it is recorded as jeu de dames (late 14c.).
draughtsman (n.): 1660s, from genitive of draught + man (n.).
draughty (adj.): 1846, from draught + -y (2).
Dravidian (adj.): 1856, "pertaining to the race in southern India or the languages spoken by them," from Sanskrit Dravidah, name of a region in southern India, + -ian.
draw (v.): c. 1200, spelling alteration of Old English dragan "to drag, to draw, protract" (class VI strong verb; past tense drog, past participle dragen), from Proto-Germanic *dragan "to draw, pull" (source also of Old Norse draga "to draw," Old Saxon dragan, Old Frisian draga, Middle Dutch draghen, Old High German tragen, German tragen "to carry, bear"), from PIE root *dhragh- (see drag (v.)).

Sense of "make a line or figure" (by "drawing" a pencil across paper) is c. 1200. Meaning "pull out a weapon" is c. 1200. To draw a criminal (drag him from a horse to place of execution) is from early 14c. To draw a blank "come up with nothing" (1825) is an image from lotteries. As a noun, from 1660s; colloquial sense of "anything that can draw a crowd" is from 1881 (the verb in this sense is 1580s).
draw (n.): game or contest that ends without a winner, attested first in drawn match (1610s), of uncertain origin; some speculate it is from withdraw. Draw-game is from 1825. As a verb, "to leave undecided," from 1837.
drawback (n.): "hindrance, disadvantage,"1720, from draw (v.) + back (adv.). The notion is of something that "holds back" success or activity.
drawbridge (n.): 14c., from draw (v.) + bridge (n.).
drawdown (n.): of troops, by 1991, in reference to the end of the Cold War; from draw (v.) + down (adv.). Earlier of wells (c. 1900).
drawer (n.): mid-14c., agent noun from draw (v.). Attested from 1570s in sense of a box that can be "drawn" out of a cabinet.
drawers (n.): 1560s, garments that are pulled (or "drawn") on; see draw (v.).
drawing (n.): c. 1300, "a pulling," in various senses, verbal noun from draw (v.). The "picture-making" sense is from 1520s; of the picture itself from 1660s. Drawing board is from 1725; used in figurative expression from mid-20c.
drawing room: 1640s, short for withdrawing room (see withdraw), into which ladies would go after dinner.
drawl (v.): 1590s, perhaps from Middle Dutch dralen, East Frisian draulen "to linger, delay," apparently an intensive of the root of draw (v.). Or else a native formation along the same lines. Related: Drawled; drawling. As a noun from 1760.
drawn: c. 1200, from Old English dragen, past participle of draw (v.).