Dragon

Pronunciation

• enPR: drăg'É™n, IPA: /ˈdræɡən/
• Rhymes: -æɡən

Origin

From Old French dragon, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drakōn, "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon"), probably from δρακεῖν, aorist active infinitive of δέρκομαι (derkomai, "I see clearly").

Full definition of dragon

Noun

1. A legendary, serpentine or reptilian creature.
1. (Western) A gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a serpent-like body, often a monster with fiery breath.
• circa 1900 Edith Nesbit, :But as every well-brought-up prince was expected to kill a dragon, and rescue a princess, the dragons grew fewer and fewer till it was often quite hard for a princess to find a dragon to be rescued from.
2. (Eastern) A large, snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag and the claws of a tiger, usually beneficent
• 1913, Sax Rohmer, , chapter XIII:These tapestries were magnificently figured with golden dragons; and as the serpentine bodies gleamed and shimmered in the increasing radiance, each dragon, I thought, intertwined its glittering coils more closely with those of another.
2. (zoology) An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
1. (obsolete) A very large snake; a python.
2. Any of various agamid lizards of the genera Draco, Physignathus or .
3. A Komodo dragon.
3. (astronomy, with definite article, often capitalized) The constellation Draco.
• 1605, William Shakespeare, , Act I, Scene 2:My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my nativity was vnder Vrsa Maior.
4. (pejorative) An unpleasant woman; a harridan.She’s a bit of a dragon.
5. (with definite article, often capitalized) The (historical) Chinese empire or the People's Republic of China.''Napoleon already warned of the awakening of the Dragon.
6. (figuratively) Something very formidable or dangerous.
7. A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
8. (military, historical) A short musket hooked to a swivel attached to a soldier's belt; so called from a representation of a dragon's head at the muzzle.
9. A variety of carrier pigeon.

Derived terms

Related terms

• draconine
• draco
• dracula
• drake
• dragoon

Synonyms

• (legendary creature): drake, monster, serpent, wyrm, wyvern, lindworm
• (unpleasant woman): battle-axe, bitch, harridan, shrew, termagant, virago