From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
dragon \drag"on\ (dr[a^]g"[u^]n), n. [F. dragon, L. draco, fr.
Gr. dra`kwn, prob. fr. de`rkesqai, dra`kein, to look (akin to
Skr. dar[,c] to see), and so called from its terrible eyes.
Cf. {Drake} a dragon, {Dragoon}.]
1. (Myth.) A fabulous animal, generally represented as a
monstrous winged serpent or lizard, with a crested head
and enormous claws, and regarded as very powerful and
ferocious.
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The dragons which appear in early paintings and
sculptures are invariably representations of a
winged crocodile. --Fairholt.
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Note: In Scripture the term dragon refers to any great
monster, whether of the land or sea, usually to some
kind of serpent or reptile, sometimes to land serpents
of a powerful and deadly kind. It is also applied
metaphorically to Satan.
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Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the
waters. -- Ps. lxxiv.
13.
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Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the
young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under feet. -- Ps. xci.
13.
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He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years. --Rev. xx. 2.
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2. A fierce, violent person, esp. a woman. --Johnson.
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3. (Astron.) A constellation of the northern hemisphere
figured as a dragon; Draco.
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4. A luminous exhalation from marshy grounds, seeming to move
through the air as a winged serpent.
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5. (Mil. Antiq.) 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. --Fairholt.
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6. (Zool.) A small arboreal lizard of the genus Draco, of
several species, found in the East Indies and Southern
Asia. Five or six of the hind ribs, on each side, are
prolonged and covered with weblike skin, forming a sort of
wing. These prolongations aid them in making long leaps
from tree to tree. Called also {flying lizard}.
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7. (Zool.) A variety of carrier pigeon.
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8. (Her.) A fabulous winged creature, sometimes borne as a
charge in a coat of arms.
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Note: Dragon is often used adjectively, or in combination, in
the sense of relating to, resembling, or characteristic
of, a dragon.
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{Dragon arum} (Bot.), the name of several species of
{Aris[ae]ma}, a genus of plants having a spathe and
spadix. See {Dragon root}(below).
{Dragon fish} (Zool.), the dragonet.
{Dragon fly} (Zool.), any insect of the family
{Libellulid[ae]}. They have finely formed, large and
strongly reticulated wings, a large head with enormous
eyes, and a long body; -- called also {mosquito hawks}.
Their larv[ae] are aquatic and insectivorous.
{Dragon root} (Bot.), an American aroid plant ({Aris[ae]ma
Dracontium}); green dragon.
{Dragon's blood}, a resinous substance obtained from the
fruit of several species of {Calamus}, esp. from {Calamus
Rotang} and {Calamus Draco}, growing in the East Indies. A
substance known as dragon's blood is obtained by exudation
from {Drac[ae]na Draco}; also from {Pterocarpus Draco}, a
tree of the West Indies and South America. The color is
red, or a dark brownish red, and it is used chiefly for
coloring varnishes, marbles, etc. Called also {Cinnabar
Gr[ae]corum}.
{Dragon's head}.
(a) (Bot.) A plant of several species of the genus
{Dracocephalum}. They are perennial herbs closely
allied to the common catnip.
(b) (Astron.) The ascending node of a planet, indicated,
chiefly in almanacs, by the symbol ?. The deviation
from the ecliptic made by a planet in passing from one
node to the other seems, according to the fancy of
some, to make a figure like that of a dragon, whose
belly is where there is the greatest latitude; the
intersections representing the head and tail; -- from
which resemblance the denomination arises. --Encyc.
Brit.
{Dragon shell} (Zool.), a species of limpet.
{Dragon's skin}, fossil stems whose leaf scars somewhat
resemble the scales of reptiles; -- a name used by miners
and quarrymen. --Stormonth.
{Dragon's tail} (Astron.), the descending node of a planet,
indicated by the symbol ?. See {Dragon's head} (above).
{Dragon's wort} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Artemisia}
({Artemisia dracunculus}).
{Dragon tree} (Bot.), a West African liliaceous tree
({Drac[ae]na Draco}), yielding one of the resins called
dragon's blood. See {Drac[ae]na}.
{Dragon water}, a medicinal remedy very popular in the
earlier half of the 17th century. "Dragon water may do
good upon him." --Randolph (1640).
{Flying dragon}, a large meteoric fireball; a bolide.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
dragon
n 1: a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as
breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes
wings [syn: {dragon}, {firedrake}]
2: a fiercely vigilant and unpleasant woman [syn: {dragon},
{tartar}]
3: a faint constellation twisting around the north celestial
pole and lying between Ursa Major and Cepheus [syn: {Draco},
{Dragon}]
4: any of several small tropical Asian lizards capable of
gliding by spreading winglike membranes on each side of the
body [syn: {dragon}, {flying dragon}, {flying lizard}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
dragon
n.
[MIT] A program similar to a {daemon}, except that it is not invoked at
all, but is instead used by the system to perform various secondary tasks.
A typical example would be an accounting program, which keeps track of who
is logged in, accumulates load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many
terminals displayed a list of people logged in, where they were, what they
were running, etc., along with some random picture (such as a unicorn,
Snoopy, or the Enterprise), which was generated by the ?name dragon?.
Usage: rare outside MIT ? under Unix and most other OSes this would be
called a background demon or {daemon}. The best-known Unix example of a
dragon is cron(1). At SAIL, they called this sort of thing a phantom.
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