drawl

/drɔl/

Other forms: drawled; drawling; drawls

A drawl is a distinctively slow, drawn-out way of talking that's especially common in the U.S. South. A writer might describe a cowboy as speaking in a lazy drawl.

A drawl tends to lengthen and extend vowel sounds in particular, so that words like "pet" or "pen" might be pronounced with two syllables, rather than one short one. While the Southern states are best known for inhabitants with drawls, Australian and New Zealand natives are also sometimes said to drawl. The word probably stems from the Dutch dralen, "delay" or "linger."

Definitions of drawl

1. noun

   a slow speech pattern with prolonged vowels
   type of:

   accent, speech pattern

   distinctive manner of oral expression
2. verb

   lengthen and slow down or draw out
   “drawl one's vowels”

   type of:

   articulate, enounce, enunciate, pronounce, say, sound out

   speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way