From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdrag something ↔ out phrasal verbLONG TIMEto make an event or situation last longer than is necessary Neither of them wanted to drag the divorce out longer than they had to. → drag→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
drag out• He ran to the back door, found a man lying on the floor and dragged him out.• Even then fitness-fanatic Mr Bush is likely to drag him out for an early morning swim.• I make the wood-making an ongoing project, to be done for fun, and drag it out for weeks.• Women have been known to lift automobiles to drag children out from under them.• Starting at three fifteen, it would drag itself out indefinitely.• This certainly opened up the subject and dragged it out of the closet.• Had trouble dragging yourself out on the town on Sunday night?• We drag everything out to cover him including blankets. 