drawl / drôl/ • v. [intr.] speak in a slow, lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds: [with direct speech] “Suits me fine,” he drawled. • n. [in sing.] a slow, lazy way of speaking or an accent with unusually prolonged vowel sounds: a Texas drawl.DERIVATIVES: drawl·er n.drawl·y adj.

DRAWL. A non-technical term (verb and noun) for SPEECH in which words are drawn out, especially prolonging vowels and final syllables. The term is often pejorative, suggesting that a speaker is affected or lazy: ‘I never heard such a drawling-affecting rogue’ (Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 2. 1, 1598). Some accents are regarded as marked by drawling: a southern drawl (in the US). See ACCENT, STYLE.

drawl †crawl or drag along; speak with indolent or affected slowness. XVI. prob. orig. vargrants' cant — EFris., LG., Du. dralen delay, linger.