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• v  lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer

• The amendments to the bill brought by honourable members of the opposition was, at best, to protract the passing of the bill and at worst to scuttle the bill altogether.
• This sort of comedy of the inhumanly vindictive antagonism by which a man and woman protract the ultimate inevitable plunge into each other's arms has, even at its silliest, some .
• I could take the simplest antitrust case and protract it for the defense almost to infinity .

• prolong
• extend
• draw out

Quotes

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• Saad Hariri in Los Angeles Times
  This terrorist attack comes at a vital time when the enemies of Lebanon are trying to protract the presidential vacuum and create sectarian strife among the Lebanese,Saad Hariri, the head of the pro-Western parliamentary majority, said in a...
• John Burgoyne in New York Times
  Such a pittance of troops as Great Britain and Ireland can supply will only serve to protract the war, to incur fruitless expense and insure disappointment,Burgoyne added in a letter in the collection that will be auctioned beginning next...
• Mirek Topolanek in Deutsche Welle
  If we have politicians interfering more than is strictly necessary through protectionism, they may indeed protract the crisis,Topolanek said.