draconian

en-adj

draconian (comparative more draconian, superlative most draconian)

more draconian (comparative)
most draconian (superlative)

The dragon came low to the earth. It defied every image of a draconian being Kulp had ever seen.

2006, Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates, Book Two, →ISBN, page 384:

A large sandwyrm (which isn't to be confused with a sandworm) popped its draconian head from the earth.

(obsolete, except in fiction) Of or resembling a dragon.


Python

From Ancient Greek Πύθων (Púthōn), from Πῡθώ (Pūthṓ), the early name of Delphi, from πύθω (púthō, “to rot, to decay”).
The programming language is named after Monty Python.

Here Apollo killed a serpent called the Python, and established a great prophetic shrine. Sometimes it is said that the Titaness Themis had the shrine before him, and this, as well as the killing of the Python, suggests that Apollo took over a place already of religious significance, associated with chthonic (i.e., earth) powers.

1995, Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood, A Short Guide to Classical Mythology, page 11:

It would seem, therefore, that what we have on the Phasian phiale is the Python coiled round the omphalos.[…]Paintings on Greek pottery and coins have preserved many an example of gods seated on an omphalos, including those of Apollo, Nike, Asclepius and others.⁴¹³ Python on the omphalos must have carried some symbolic meaning.

2000, Otar Lordkipanidze, Phasis: The River and City in Colchis, page 70:

Python, says Bailey, is derived from Putho to putrify, and the serpent Python being slain by Apollo, is thus interpreted: by Python is understood the ruin of the waters; Apollo slew this serpent with his arrows; that is, the beams of the sun dispersed the noxious vapours, which destroyed man like a devouring serpent.

2005, M. A. Dwight, Taylor Lewis, Grecian and Roman Mythology, page 183:

(Greek mythology) The earth-dragon of Delphi, represented as a serpent, killed by Apollo.

programming language
programming language

(computing) An interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language invented by Guido van Rossum.


Python

John Cleese is perhaps the best-known of the Pythons.

(informal) Any member of the comedy troupe Monty Python: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones or Michael Palin.


drake

From Middle English drake (“dragon; Satan”), from Old English draca (“dragon, sea monster, huge serpent”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakō (“dragon”), from Latin dracō (“dragon”), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, giant seafish”), from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”). Compare Middle Dutch drake and German Drache. Doublet of dragon.


dragon

→ Fijian: drekoni

→ Japanese: ドラゴン (doragon)

desc

→ Korean: 드래곤 (deuraegon), 드래건 (deuraegeon)

→ Marathi: ड्रॅगन (ḍrĕgan)

→ Marshallese: tūrāikōn

→ Niuean: tarākoni

→ Swahili: dragoni

→ Tamil: டிராகன் (ṭirākaṉ)

→ Yoruba: dírágónì

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”). Displaced native Old English draca—a doublet of dragon, as are Draco, dracone, and dragoon.

taniwha

Maori mythological creature similar to a dragon

My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my nativity was vnder Vrsa Maior.

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]:

(astronomy, with definite article, often capitalized) The constellation Draco.


draconic

en-adj

draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)

more draconic (comparative)
most draconic (superlative)

From the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws.

[…] they no land / Doomed to bewail the blasphemy of laws / Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.

1818, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 3, Stanza 64:

The sexual instinct can hardly be changed by prescriptions; I doubt whether all laws against homosexual intercourse, even the most draconic, have ever been able to extinguish the peculiar desire of anybody born with homosexual tendencies.

1932, Edvard Westermarck, chapter VIII, in Ethical Relativity, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, page 248:

In the first months after the October Revolution Lenin was already demanding "the most decisive, draconic measures to tighten up discipline."

1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Thomas P. Whitney, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, published 1973, Vol. 2, Part III, pp. 9-10:

(rare, dated) Very severe or strict; draconian.


wyvern

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), borrowed from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.

The jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

Notions of freedom are tied up in drink / Our ideal life contains a tavern / Where man may sit and talk of or just think / All without fear of the nighted wyvern, / Or yet another tavern where it appears.

1940-54 The Collected Poetry of Malcolm Lowry, "WE SIT UNHACKLED DRUNK AND MAD TO EDIT", UBC Press,1992, p.222

(heraldry, mythology, fantasy) A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.


wyrm

Learned borrowing from Old English wyrm. Doublet of worm, which was inherited.

(mythology, fantasy) A huge limbless and wingless dragon or dragonlike creature.


draconologist

As such, his pamphlet is unlikely to appeal either to serious draconologists and cryptozoologists, or to newcomers to the field, who would probably be better served by any of the many book-length cryptozoological tours available.

1997, Mike Dash, “Water Dragons: A Guide to Lake Serpent Legends Around the World (review)”, in Fortean Times, numbers 102-106, →ISSN:

In the words of one prominent draconologist “No dragon exists — none ever did exist” (Ingersoll 1928: 13).

2000, Robert Blust, “The Origin of Dragons”, in Anthropos, volume 95, number 2, page 522:

The expeditions and adventures described in this book have been performed under the guidance of trained observers, experts and draconologists.

2012 June 26, William O'Connor, Dracopedia The Great Dragons: An Artist's Field Guide and Drawing Journal, Cincinnati: Impact, →ISBN, →OL, page 6:


naga

Borrowed from Sanskrit नाग (nāga, “serpent, snake”). Doublet of snake.

The five-coned towers form a quincunx, and their flanks are scooped into niches in each of which has been placed a smiling buddha shaded by a nine-headed naga like a big palm fan.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 257:

(Indian mythology) A member of a class of semi-divine creatures, often taking the form of a very large snake and associated with water.

ᬦᬵᬕ

a semi-divine mythological creature in the form of a snake


Chinese dragon

(mythology) A legendary creature, usually depicted as long and snake-like, with many claws, common in several East Asian cultures.

চীনা আজদাহা

legendary creature common in several East Asian cultures


luck dragon

A calque of the German term Glücksdrache, coined in The Neverending Story (1983) (translated by Ralph Manheim from the original Die Unendliche Geschichte (1979) by Michael Ende).

2006 July 7, Douglas Sarine (guest), “'Pirates' Any Good? Ask a Ninja, If You Dare”, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
Like literally, the last line of the movie is a new plotline. It's a never-ending story, but with no luckdragon.

“I am Princess Tessiyon Windmere and captain of my ship I am to go back to. And yourself?” said she. / “I am Zandor, I am a luck dragon,” he replied. / “You sure are indeed. It was my luck that saved me, you came.”

2008, Kyann Zorain, The Stones of the Hidden Power: The Fight for Freedom, page 90:

His first magical creature was a bonsai tiger called Jack (of the tabby variety), followed by a small luck dragon named Daisy. Sometimes people mistook Daisy for a spaniel, but you could tell she was a luck dragon because she had big floppy ears.

2009 March 1, Sam Bowring, The Zoo of Magical and Mythological Creatures, Macmillan, preface:

I liked that there was no bright light but the perpetual clouds and drizzle were depressing. It was like The Nothing was coming. Too bad I couldn’t ride a luck dragon out of this place.

2010 March 15, Paul Y. Csige, The Symphony of Leif, CsiMec Incorporated, page 127

A fictitious flying dragon with a giant, elongated, wingless body and commonly a canine head, unfailing in its serendipity.


lindworm

Cognate with Old Norse linnormr (“constrictor snake”), Norwegian lindorm (“serpent”), German Lindwurm (“dragon”).

cog

A draconic creature, similar to a wyvern.


dragonlike

en-adj

dragonlike (comparative more dragonlike, superlative most dragonlike)

more dragonlike (comparative)
most dragonlike (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of a dragon.


dragonhide

en-noun

dragonhide (countable and uncountable, plural dragonhides)

She was also almost naked, except for a couple of mere scraps of the lightest chain mail and riding boots of iridescent dragonhide.

1983, Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic:


dragonet

in his wombe might lurke some hidden nest / Of many Dragonets, his fruitfull seed […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:


vishap

Learned borrowing from Armenian վիշապ (višap).

lbor

(Armenian mythology) a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water


derg

Mutated clipping of dragon, possibly by insertion of a neutral vowel given textual abbreviation "drg."

(furry fandom, endearing, chiefly Internet slang) A dragon.


firebreather

(fantasy) Any creature, such as a dragon, that breathes flame.


puff the magic dragon

en-verb

puff the magic dragon (third-person singular simple present puffs the magic dragon, present participle puffing the magic dragon, simple past and past participle puffed the magic dragon)

puffs the magic dragon (present singular third-person)
puffing the magic dragon (participle present)
puffed the magic dragon (participle past)
puffed the magic dragon (past)

From the name of a song, Puff, the Magic Dragon (1963), reinterpreting puff as a verb. The authors of the song have repeatedly denied that it is about marijuana.

Sure, he puffed the magic dragon — who didn't? — but no cocaine, no heroin.

2006, Richard Greener, The Lacey Confession:


firedrake

From Middle English firdrake, from Old English fȳrdraca (“fire-spewing dragon”), equivalent to fire + drake.

inh

A fiery meteor, an ignis fatuus, a rocket


earthdrake

From Middle English *erthedrake, from Old English eorþdraca (“earth dragon”), equivalent of earth + drake.

... he sacrifices his own life in destroying a frightful earthdrake,

1876, William Spalding, The History of English Literature, page 40:

While attempting to remain as true to history as possible, I created a world of witches and wizards, earthdrakes and talking ravens, according to my imagination.

2008, M.C. Halliday, The King's Daughter - Page 196:

Aric had heard improbable tales of earth drakes eating entire mekillots. Seeing this one, however, he no longer had reason to doubt.

2010, Jeff Mariotte, City Under the Sand: A Dark Sun Novel:

(in early Anglo-Saxon literature) a dragon.


dragonette

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dragonette.wav

(small dragon):

(female dragon):

And I really don't know how to say this, except to say that this dragoness is seriously luscious. Maybe that's a terrible thing to say because I'm dying and all, but there it is. This is one seriously juicy-looking dragonette.

2018, Gabe Hudson, “What a Fitting Place for me to Die, Here in the Belly of the Beast”, in Gork, the Teenage Dragon, page 202:


icedrake

Rearing back its awesome spined and crested head, the icedrake roared — in challenge, maybe, or in scorn of the little scraps of humankind who cowered beneath the shadow of its wings […]

1987, Peter Morwood, The Dragon Lord, Daw Books, →ISBN, page 38:

(fantasy) A dragon which breathes ice or has a freezing body temperature.


firedragon

From Middle English fyre dragon; equivalent to fire + dragon, modelled after firedrake.

Adam continued to moan in hypnotic agony. Joshua needed to make a move. Boldly, Joshua strode toward the firedragon.


dragonking

(fantasy, mythology) A king with the ability to control dragons.


pseudodragon

From pseudo- + dragon, introduced in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

(fantasy) A small dragon-like creature, not a true dragon.


dragonlord

"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."

1970, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan:

(fantasy) One who has power over dragons.


earth-drake

From Middle English *erthedrake, from Old English eorþdraca, equivalent to earth + drake (“dragon”).

(Anglo-Saxon mythology, fantasy) Alternative form of earthdrake


dragonkin

Dragonkin have the innate ability to detect magic at will, as a free action. They have an overpowering desire to acquire magic items, and target characters who possess these items in preference to others. If possible, a dragonkin will grab a magic item from its opponent and flee with it, taking the item back to its cave.

2000, “Appendix 4: New Monsters”, in Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor (Forgotten Realms), Wizards of the Coast, →ISBN, page 84, column 1:

Half and quarter blood dragonkin have very obvious physical differences, as well as many abilities and attributes of their dragon ancestors. Eighth blood dragonkin will have some physical traits of the dragon as well as some attributes.

2015, Heather Gunn, Aspect Core Rulebook, FC 2015 SC (page 30):

(fantasy) A person who is partly descended from dragon(s).


burninate

en-verb

burninate (third-person singular simple present burninates, present participle burninating, simple past and past participle burninated)

burninates (present singular third-person)
burninating (participle present)
burninated (participle past)
burninated (past)

Back-formation from Burninator, from the original character Trogdor the Burninator from the Homestar Runner series of web cartoons.

Burninating the countryside! / Burninating the peasants! / Burninating all the people! / In their thatched-roof COTTAGES!!

2003 January 13, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Strong Bad Email #58: dragon”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):

Although the language may not be going to hell in a handbasket — what is a handbasket, anyway? — some of its speakers appear ready to burninate a noob.

2008, Mark Abley, The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 24:

These wars were often fought by mercenaries' armies who—while going about busily pillaging and “burninating the countryside”—were often more concerned with (a) not dying and (b) looting and carrying off maidens than any particular religious ideals.

2016, Christopher Ben Simpson, Modern Christian Theology, T&T Clark, →ISBN, page 37:

(slang, humorous) To destroy by fire; to burn.


lindwyrm

Cognate with Old Norse linnormr (“constrictor snake”), Norwegian lindorm (“serpent”), German Lindwurm (“dragon”).
The word wyrm is a contemporary or recent borrowing from the Old English word wyrm.

Lindwyrms are wingless dragons that look like huge snakes. Some lindwyrms have two tiny feet that are almost useless.

2008, Matt Doeden, Dragon Life, →ISBN, page 24:

I've seen her plug a lindwyrm through the eyestalk from a moving helicopter.

2012, Larry Correia, The Monster Hunters, →ISBN:

That lindwyrm'll keep you safe.

2013, Christina Mercer, Arrow of the Mist, →ISBN:


amphiptere

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí, “amphi-”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”).

af

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">amphi-</i>

Azure, an amphiptere or, rising between two mountains argent, are the arms of Camoens, the Portuguese poet.

1969, John Vinycomb, Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art, Library of Alexandria, →ISBN:

(heraldry, fantasy) A type of winged serpent, with two bat-like wings and typically with no other limbs.


loong

Borrowed from Mandarin 龍／龙 (lóng). This spelling is used to differentiate the word from long.

(uncommon, chiefly China) A Chinese dragon.


burnination

Burnination! O'Meara swore as I rolled up to my feet, pain pricking along my ribs where Feather's claws had found flesh.

A minced oath used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc.


dwaggy

From dwagon (“dragon”) + -y (“diminutive suffix”). Compare doggy.

(diminutive, Internet slang, usually furry subculture) a dragon, especially one that is much-loved or cute.


dragonspeak

(fantasy) The language spoken by dragons.


dragonlet

I had no idea how long dragon gestation was, and my experience with Lois wasn't much to go on about normal dragonlet development, but if there was a human baby around about a year after some dragonlets were born which was maybe when normal dragonlets start spending serious time outside mom’s pouch. . . .

2007, Robin McKinley, Dragonhaven, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 315:

So it was that after the dragonlets had eaten a supper of raw fish from the bay, and he and Princess Eleanor had eaten a delicious meal of cooked fish, Sir Thomas found himself lying on a bed of sweet grasses surrounded by sleepy baby dragons and one tired princess.

2010, Shutta Crum, Thomas and the Dragon Queen, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 203:

In most examples, as in this panel, there are visible female genitalia, though occasionally breasts or dugs are also shown, and in some cases one or more baby dragonlets are depicted that seem to be intended to identify the dragon as a mother.

2015, Samantha Riches, “St George as a Dragon-slayer”, in St George: A Saint for All, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, pages 105–106:


adragonist

From a- + dragon + -ist, based on atheist.

(very rare, humorous) A person who does not believe in dragons.


dragonflame

The records of the battle speak only of rolling smoke and of dragonflame mixed with the white fire of the three Ancients.

1981 November, David J[ames] Ritchie, “A History of the Third Fomorian War: The Last Struggle and Decline of the Sidh in Albion”, in Ares, number 11, New York, N.Y.: Simulations Publications, Inc., section “The Great Worm”, page 7, column 2:

She felt her skin pop and eyes melt in the blast of dragonflame, and the snapping of her bones as his teeth skewered her—

1985, Dave Smeds, The Sorcery Within, New York, N.Y.: Ace Fantasy Books, →ISBN, page 272:

Already weakened by blasts of dragonflame, the dome cracked under the force of impact, and a moment later half of it came tumbling down, crushing both dragon and dragonslayers under tons of broken stone and rubble.

2013, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “The Princess and the Queen, or, The Blacks and the Greens”, in George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, editors, Dangerous Women, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, pages 765–766:


dragonfire

“Spurs!” Imbri sent in a dream like a blast of dragonfire. “Hotter than the breath of Baal, your thought! But I don’t use the spurs, once my steed is tame,” he argued.

1982, Piers Anthony, Night Mare, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey Books, page 100:

With a roar of dragonfire something enormous blazed by overhead, as if the Moon itself were dropping onto us.

1982, Mike Scott Rohan, Run to the Stars, Arrow Books, →ISBN, page 14:

At the same time, it made me desperate to get to Ember. To get us all out of here and find someplace safe before the world exploded in a hellstorm of dragonfire.

2017, Julie Kagawa, Legion, HQ, →ISBN, page 210:


dragon whisperer

en-noun

dragon whisperer (plural dragon whisperers)

(fantasy) One who has the ability to talk to and control dragons.


dragonlength

Further investigation proved that the plateau was isolated and ample to pasture a huge herd of food[-]beasts for the dragons. It ended in a sheer drop of several dragonlengths into denser jungle on one side, the sea-side escarpment on the other.

1968, Anne McCaffrey, “The Cold Between”, in Dragonflight, Ballantine Books, published 1974, →ISBN, page 262:

An elv’in scoutship was not a large ship, less than two dragonlengths.

2002, James Clemens (pseudonym; James Paul Czajkowski), Wit’ch Star, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey Books, →ISBN, page 28:

The Copper stood before the massive Black Rock in the center of the Lavadome; it was dozens of dragonlengths high, heavy and black and forbidding.

2007, E. E. Knight (pseudonym; Eric Frisch), chapter 22, in Dragon Outcast (The Age of Fire; 3), Roc Books, →ISBN, page 257:

(fantasy) A distance equal to the length of a dragon.


snowdragon

“This is the northern edge of the darklands,” said Hargoth. “We live all our lives in a state of siege. Anyone, anything, may come. Sometimes the great snowdragons, with the frost white on their wings and their hungry teeth showing.[…]”

1974, Leigh Brackett, “The Ginger Star”, in The Book of Skaith: The Adventures of Eric John Stark, Garden City, N.Y.: Nelson Doubleday, Inc., published 1976, page 85:

In the sky a blizzard of mighty snowdragons wheeled in impatient spirals, their white riders eager to join the fray.

1991, Andrew Bill, The Well of Hope, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.: Holland Studio Craft Ltd., →ISBN, page 1:

Mournfully, Barbara the Barbarian stroked the proud back of Fearless, while her six bodyguards tested their arrows and dreamed of riding through the snowy wastes of Barbaria on the backs of their snowdragons, wind streaming through their mustaches, cats meowing happily on their shoulders, flying back, back in time to a village that no longer existed.

2015, Cressida Cowell, How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury: The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup the Viking (How to Train Your Dragon; 12), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 86:

(rare, fantasy) A dragon associated with snow.


dragonrider

Those handsome dragonriders, too, so brave in their wher-hide accouterments, proud on the necks of their great beasts—they did not submit kindly to close examination without a few disappointing revelations.

1968, Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published 1974, →ISBN, page 108:

The dragonriders turned their beasts, two hundred beasts at least, treading once again over the crops they had already destroyed.

1984, Eric Affabee, The Siege of the Dragonriders (Wizards, Warriors & You; 2), New York, N.Y.: Avon, →ISBN, page 4:

Once asleep, a dragon is extremely difficult and even dangerous to wake,[…]. An experienced dragonrider never allows his animal to sleep unless he knows there is a competent wizard nearby.

1989, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, The Prophet of Akhran (Rose of the Prophet; 3), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN:


dragonriding

Anne McCaffrey of Dragonflight fame, experienced relief noting that . . . “Leessa (was), for once, appropriately clad for dragonriding,” and finds it noteworthy that he had actually read her books!

1981, Richard Riehn, “[Book reviews] Wonderworks, Science Fiction and Fantasy Art, by Michael Whelan”, in Philip O[lcott] Stearns, editor, Fantasy Modeling, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Fantasy Modeling Inc., →OCLC, page 44, column 2:

He took hold of the leather harness and said, “I’m ready.” / “Good, Aarondar. It is . . . nice that you have acquired a taste for dragonriding.” Turiana snorted in amusement, and gathered herself for flying.

1986 December, R[hondi] A[nn] V[ilott] Salsitz, chapter 21, in Where Dragons Rule, New York, N.Y.: Signet, →ISBN, page 243:

Troll fights every Saturday, centaur roller derby Tuesday nights, zombie paintball every second Friday, unicorn jousting at Christmas and a dragonriding tournament in June.

2017 October 10, Jessica Townsend, “Welcome to Nevermoor”, in Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Sydney, N.S.W.: Lothian, Hachette Australia, →ISBN, page 83: