What it means
It means someone's delaying on purpose or moving maddeningly slow because they don't fancy getting it done. Not just busy, not just behind, more that quiet little resistance where they keep things crawling instead of making a decision. You hear it loads with offices, councils, landlords, HR, anyone stretching a simple thing into a long dusty saga.
Usage examples
"HR’s been dragging their feet on my contract, keeps saying next week. I’m ready to start Monday, but they’re still faffing about with paperwork."
"Stop dragging your feet and just sign the contract."
"The council's been dragging its feet on the repairs for months."
"They've been dragging their feet on paying the invoice for six weeks now, so I'm done being polite."
"Every time the topic of moving out comes up, he starts dragging his feet and suddenly needs to think about it some more."
Where it comes from
This one's old, and it's pretty literal at heart. If someone walks with their feet dragging, they're moving slowly and without enthusiasm. From there it spread into figurative use for delay, reluctance, and half-hearted action, especially when someone could act but keeps stalling instead.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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