dragon

See also: Dragon, dragón, and drag on

English

Pronunciation

WOTD – 14 May 2007
  • enPR: drăg'ən, IPA(key): /ˈdɹæɡən/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æɡən

Etymology 1

From Middle English dragoun, from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δρακεῖν (drakeîn), aorist active infinitive of δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”).

A float with the Dragon of Saint George at Rio Carnival, 2017.
a chinese dragon

Noun

dragon (plural dragons)

  1. A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.
    1. In Western mythology, 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.
      • c. 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. In Eastern mythology, 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. A heraldic representation of such a beast used as a charge or as a supporter; as in the arms of Wales.
  3. 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.
  4. (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.
  5. (pejorative) A fierce and unpleasant woman; a harridan.
    She’s a bit of a dragon.
  6. (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.
  7. (figuratively) Something very formidable or dangerous.
  8. A luminous exhalation from marshy ground, seeming to move through the air like a winged serpent.
  9. (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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairholt to this entry?)
  10. A variety of carrier pigeon.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for dragon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Quotations

  • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:dragon.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

Etymology 2

derived from drag queen

Noun

dragon (plural dragons)

  1. (slang) a transvestite man, or more broadly a male-to-female transgender person
    • May 2017 Michael Connelly shares excerpt from The Late Show
      Ballard felt her phone vibrate in her hand and turned away from the nurse. She saw a return text from Mendez. She read his answer out loud to Jenkins. “‘Ramona Ramone, dragon. Real name Ramón Gutierrez. Had him in here a couple weeks back. Priors longer than his pre-op dick.’ Nice way of putting it.” “Considering his own dimensions,” Jenkins said. Drag queens, cross-dressers, and transgenders were all generally referred to as dragons in vice. No distinctions were made. It wasn’t nice but it was accepted.
    • October 2017 Drag Star VIZIN is back with new single Blasting News
      My favorite part was probably the ‘de-dragging.’ Taking the Dragon off (that’s what I call her) is always my favorite. In all honesty, the entire experience was amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Being felt up by Michael Silas wasn’t bad either...
    • December 2017 Miss Lawrence as Miss Bruce, "Climax" Star episode 21
      Yes. Butt shots. Everybody can't afford lipo and fat transfers. Especially dragons. So if they want to pay me top dollar to pump their ass up that's what I'm gonna do, and you've benefited from it.

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -oːˀn

Noun

dragon c (singular definite dragonen, plural indefinite dragoner)

  1. a dragoon (soldier of the mounted infantry)

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: dra‧gon

Etymology 1

From Middle French dragon, from Arabic طَرْخْوْن‎ (ṭarḵwn), from Ancient Greek δρακόντιον (drakóntion), although not all etymologists agree it must have been borrowed via Arabic.

Noun

dragon m (uncountable)

  1. The edible Mediterranean herb Artemisia dracunculus (tarragon), used as a salad spice
  2. The plant Erysimum cheiranthoides
Synonyms
  • (Erysium cheiranthoides):) steenraket

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French dragon.

Noun

dragon m (plural dragons, diminutive dragonnetje n)

  1. A (French) dragoon
Synonyms

French

Etymology

From Old French dragon, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dʁa.ɡɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

dragon m (plural dragons, feminine dragonne)

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

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn).

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.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French dragon, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn).

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Jersey)(file)

Noun

dragon m (plural dragons)

  1. (Jersey) dragon
  2. (Jersey, nautical) flying jib

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

dragon m (definite singular dragonen, indefinite plural dragoner, definite plural dragonene)

  1. a dragoon (soldier of the mounted infantry)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

dragon m (definite singular dragonen, indefinite plural dragonar, definite plural dragonane)

  1. a dragoon (soldier of the mounted infantry)

References

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn).

Noun

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

  1. dragon (mythical animal)

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin dracōnem, accusative of dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [dɾaˈɡõn]

Noun

dragon m (plural dragones)

  1. dragon
    • c. 1250: Alfonso X, Lapidario, f. 103r.
      Et eſto faz deſcédiédo ſobrella la uertud de fiǵa de oḿe cubierto duna ſauana. ¬ cauallero ſobre un dragó ¬ teniédo en ſu mano dieſtra una láça.
      And it does this when over it descends the virtue of the figure of a man covered with a sheet, and a knight riding a dragon with a spear in his right hand.
    • Idem, f. 118v.
      Et es de la manera de las piedras ſeelladas. que los antigos gardauan. / Et presta pora echar los dragones. ¬ las ſirpientes. de los lugares.
      And it is akin to the sealed stones that the ancients kept. And it is good for expeling dragons and snakes from any place.

Descendants

Old Welsh

Noun

dragon m

  1. commander, war leader

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French dragon.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /draˈɡon/

Noun

dragon m (plural dragoni)

  1. a dragon (mythical creature)
  2. a flying lizard species (of the genera Draco, Physignathus or Pogona)
  3. (astronomy, often capitalized, with definite articulation) Draco (constellation)
  4. (military) a dragoon (horse soldier)

Declension

Synonyms

References

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /draˈɡuːn/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

dragon c

  1. a dragoon (soldier of the mounted infantry)
  2. the perennial herb tarragon
  3. leaves of that plant, used as seasoning

Declension

Declension of dragon 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative dragon dragonen dragoner dragonerna
Genitive dragons dragonens dragoners dragonernas
  • dragonregemente
  • dragonättika
  • dragonört

References

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