dragon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: drăg'ən
ipa: /ˈdɹæɡən/
ipa: /ˈdɹæɡɪn/
note: see /æ/ raising
ipa: [ˈdɹeɪɡən]
rhymes: -æɡən
Forms: form: dragons
form: dwagon
Etymology: From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”). Mostly displaced Old English draca (whence modern drake)—from the same Latin source, as are Draco, dracone, and dragoon.
Senses: examples: text: Medea for the loue of Iaſon, taught him how to tame the fire breathing braſſ feeted Bulls, and kill the mighty dragon that kept the golden fleece[.]
ref: 1632, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cryps, page 548:
text: 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.
ref: c. 1900, Edith Nesbit, The Last of the Dragons:
text: Before daylight, when the dragon flew home to sleep, he had burned up the hall and even the throne of the Geatish king.
ref: 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 41:
text: They pitched the dragon
over the cliff-top, let tide's flow
and backwash take the treasure-minder.
ref: 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 98:
glosses: A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.
In European mythologies, 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.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter XIII, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:
glosses: A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.
In Eastern Asian mythologies, a large, snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag and the claws of a tiger, usually beneficent.
glosses: An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
A very large snake; a python.
glosses: An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
Any of various agamid lizards of the genera Draco, Physignathus or Pogona.
glosses: An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
A Komodo dragon.
glosses: An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:
A sea dragon.
examples: text: My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my nativity was vnder Vrsa Maior.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: The constellation Draco.
examples: text: She’s a bit of a dragon.
glosses: A fierce and unpleasant woman; a harridan.
glosses: An unattractive woman.
examples: text: Napoleon already warned of the awakening of the Dragon.
glosses: The (historical) Chinese empire or the People's Republic of China.
glosses: Something very formidable or dangerous.
topics: board-games
games
mahjong
glosses: A class of playing tiles consisting of three types: white dragons, green dragons, and red dragons.
glosses: A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
examples: text: our dragoons were so denominated because they were armed with dragons, that is, with short muskets, which spouted fire like dragons, and had the head of a dragon wrought upon their muzzle
ref: 1886, Charles Gould, Mythical Monsters:
topics: engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
synonyms: dragoon
glosses: A type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel with a flared muzzle, often hooked to a swivel attached to a soldier's belt.
examples: text: Daemons and Dragons. The print spooler is an example of a DAEMON, a program that executes in the background and provides a service […] Strictly speaking, a dragon is a daemon that is not invoked explicitly but is always there, waiting in the background […]
ref: 1995, Harley Hahn, The UNIX Companion, page 420:
text: Many of the postmaster functions are actually handled by computer software such as dragons and mailer daemons.
ref: 2018, J. K. Petersen, Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A background process similar to a daemon.
glosses: A variety of carrier pigeon.
Synonyms: sense: legendary creature
word: drake
sense: legendary creature
word: worm
sense: legendary creature
word: wyrm
sense: legendary creature
word: wyvern
sense: legendary creature
word: lindworm
topics: lifestyle
sense: legendary creature
word: derg
sense: legendary creature
word: dwaggy
sense: unpleasant woman
word: dragon lady
word: shrew
Hypernyms: sense: legendary creature
word: monster
sense: legendary creature
word: serpent
Hyponyms: sense: legendary creature
word: dragoness
sense: legendary creature
word: dragonness
sense: legendary creature
word: dragonette
sense: legendary creature
word: dragonet
sense: legendary creature
word: dragonlet
sense: legendary creature
word: dragonling
Derived terms: word: accelerated dragon
word: adragonist
taxonomic: Pogona spp.
word: bearded dragon
taxonomic: Glaucus atlanticus etc.
word: blue dragon
word: chase the dragon
word: Chinese dragon
taxonomic: Dracunculus vulgaris
word: dragon arum
word: dragonback
word: dragon beam
word: dragon boat
word: Dragon Boat Festival
word: dragon boating
word: dragonbone
word: Dragon Book
word: dragonborn
word: dragonbreath
word: dragon curve
word: dragon dance
word: dragondom
word: dragonesque
word: dragoness
word: dragonet
word: dragonette
word: dragonewt
word: dragonfire
word: dragonfish
word: dragon flag
word: dragonflame
english: Epiprocta spp.
translation: Epiprocta spp.
word: dragonfly
taxonomic: Stenocereus spp.
word: dragon fruit
word: dragon gate
taxonomic: Dracocephalum spp.
word: dragonhead
word: dragonhide
word: dragonhood
word: dragonise
word: dragonish
word: dragonism
word: dragonize
word: dragon kiln
word: dragonkin
word: dragonkind
word: dragonking
word: dragon lady
word: dragonlength
word: dragonless
word: dragonlet
word: Dragon Li
word: dragonlike
word: dragonling
taxonomic: Agamidae spp.
word: dragon lizard
word: dragonlord
word: dragonlore
word: dragonly
word: dragon man
taxonomic: Homo longi
word: Dragon Man
word: dragonmaster
word: dragonologist
word: dragonology
word: dragonproof
word: dragonrider
word: dragon roll
taxonomic: Araceae spp.
word: dragonroot
word: dragon's beard candy
word: dragon's blood
word: dragonsbreath
taxonomic: Dracocephalum spp.
word: dragon's head
word: dragonskin
word: dragonslayer
taxonomic: Glaucus atlanticus
word: dragon slug
taxonomic: Xenodermus javanicus
word: dragon snake
word: dragonsome
word: dragonspeak
word: dragon's tail
word: dragon's teeth
word: dragonstone
word: Dragon's Triangle
word: dragon's wort
taxonomic: Lamproptera spp.
word: dragontail
taxonomic: Epipremnum pinnatum
word: dragon-tail plant
word: dragon tie
taxonomic: Dracaena spp.
word: dragon tree
word: dragon whisperer
word: dragonwise
taxonomic: Dracunculus medinensis
word: dragon worm
taxonomic: Dracunculus vulgaris
word: dragonwort
word: dragony
word: dragon year
word: drain the dragon
word: Dutch angel dragon
taxonomic: Tympanocryptis spp.
word: earless dragon
word: feed the dragon
word: firedragon
taxonomic: Draco spp.
word: flying dragon
taxonomic: Chlamydosaurus kingii
word: frilled dragon
word: fudge dragon
word: grand dragon
word: green dragon
word: gum dragon
word: ice dragon boat
word: ice dragon boating
taxonomic: Amphibolurus muricatus
word: jacky dragon
taxonomic: Varanus komodoensis
word: Komodo dragon
word: Land of the Dragon
word: Land of the Red Dragon
word: leafy sea dragon
word: luck dragon
taxonomic: Kinorhyncha spp.
word: mud dragon
word: northern water dragon
word: paper dragon
taxonomic: Antipodogomphus hodgkini
word: Pilbara dragon
word: pseudodragon
word: puff the magic dragon
word: reluctant dragon
taxonomic: Crocodilia spp.
word: river-dragon
taxonomic: Hydrosaurus spp.
word: sailfin dragon)
word: scrambling dragon
word: sea dragon
taxonomic: Neurocordulia spp.
word: shadowdragon
word: sleeping dragon
word: snapdragon
word: snowdragon
word: Stanford dragon
taxonomic: Agrionoptera spp.
word: swampdragon
word: tickle the dragon's tail
word: twindragon
word: undragoned
word: water dragon
Related terms: draco
Draco
draconian
draconic
draconine
dracontine
Dracula
dracunculus
Dracunculus
dragonet
dragonish
dragonlike
dragoon
drake
🐉
🐲
basilisk
Saint George
serpent
stoor worm
Stoor Worm
zilant
Zilant