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Dragon Definition

dragon

See also drag on, and dragón

Contents

English

Wikimedia Commons has related media at: Dragon European sculpture of a dragon.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

WOTD - 14 May 2007 Wikipedia has an article on: Dragon

Noun

dragon (plural dragons)

  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, The Last of the Dragons:
        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, The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, 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 Pogona.
    3. A Komodo dragon.
  3. (astronomy, with definite article, often capitalized) The constellation Draco.
    • 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, 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.

Quotations

Derived terms

Related terms

Synonyms

See also

Dutch

Etymology 1

From Arabic

Noun

dragon m. (uncountable, ??? please provide the diminutive!)

  1. The edible Mediterranean herb Artemisia dracunculus, used as a salad spice
  2. The plant Erysimum cheiranthoides
Synonyms

Etymology 2

French (see below)

Noun

dragon m. (plural dragons, ??? please provide the diminutive!)

  1. A (French) dragoon
Synonyms

French

Etymology

From Latin draco

Noun

dragon m. (plural dragons; feminine dragonne, plural dragonnes)

  1. A dragon, creature or person
  2. A dragoon

Derived terms

Related terms
  • aller voir défiler les dragons
  • bateau-dragon m.
  • dragon de Komodo m.
  • dragon de Patagonie m.
  • dragon volant m.

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Noun

dragon

  1. A dragon.
    • 1382 — Wyclif's Bible, Daniel 14:26
      Therfor Daniel took pitch, and talow, and heeris, and sethide togidere; and he made gobetis, and yaf in to the mouth of the dragun; and the dragun was al to-brokun.
    • 1380-1399 — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Parson's Tale
      For God seith thus by Moyses: they shul been wasted with hunger, and the briddes of helle shul devouren hem with bitter deeth, and the galle of the dragon shal been hire drynke, and the venym of the dragon hire morsels.

Old French

Noun

dragon m. (oblique plural dragons, nominative singular dragons, nominative plural dragon)

  1. dragon (mythical animal)

Old Welsh

Noun

dragon

  1. commander, war leader

Related terms

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

dragon c.

  1. The perennial herb tarragon
  2. The leaves of that plant, used as seasoning

Declension

Declension of dragon
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative dragon dragonen dragoner dragonerna
genitive dragons dragonens dragoners dragonernas

 

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