Dragon
Pronunciation
- enPR: drăg'ən, IPA: /ˈdræɡən/
- Rhymes: -æɡən
Origin
From Old French dragon, from Latin dracÅ, from Ancient Greek δÏάκων (drakÅn, "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon"), probably from δÏακεῖν, aorist active infinitive of δÎÏκομαι (derkomai, "I see clearly").
Full definition of dragon
Noun
dragon
(plural dragons)- A legendary, serpentine or reptilian creature.
- (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.
- (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.
- (zoology) An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
- (obsolete) A very large snake; a python.
- Any of various agamid lizards of the genera Draco, Physignathus or .
- A Komodo dragon.
- (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.
- (pejorative) An unpleasant woman; a harridan.She’s a bit of a dragon.
- (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.
- (figuratively) Something very formidable or dangerous.
- A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
- (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.
- A variety of carrier pigeon.