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Dragon   Listen
noun
dragon  n.  
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. "The dragons which appear in early paintings and sculptures are invariably representations of a winged crocodile." 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. "Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters." "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." "He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years."
2.
A fierce, violent person, esp. a woman.
3.
(Astron.) A constellation of the northern hemisphere figured as a dragon; Draco.
4.
A luminous exhalation from marshy grounds, seeming to move through the air as a winged serpent.
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.
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.
7.
(Zool.) A variety of carrier pigeon.
8.
(Her.) A fabulous winged creature, sometimes borne as a charge in a coat of arms. Note: Dragon is often used adjectively, or in combination, in the sense of relating to, resembling, or characteristic of, a dragon.
Dragon arum (Bot.), the name of several species of Arisaema, 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 Libellulidae. They have finely formed, large and strongly reticulated wings, a large head with enormous eyes, and a long body; called also mosquito hawks. Their larvae are aquatic and insectivorous.
Dragon root (Bot.), an American aroid plant (Arisaema 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 Dracaena 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 Graecorum.
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. 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.
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.
Dragon's tail (Astron.), the descending node of a planet. 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 (Dracaena Draco), yielding one of the resins called dragon's blood. See Dracaena.
Dragon water, a medicinal remedy very popular in the earlier half of the 17th century. "Dragon water may do good upon him."
Flying dragon, a large meteoric fireball; a bolide.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Dragon" Quotes from Famous Books



... brother Ferdinand, Archduke of Milan, considering he is only Governor of Lombardy, is not without industry; and I am told, when out of the glimpse of his dragon the holy Beatrice, his Archduchess, sells his corn in the time of war to my enemies, as he does to my friends in the time of peace. So he loses ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... that moment, against the wall at the head of the bed, Pierre perceived the escutcheon of the Boccaneras, embroidered in gold and coloured silks on a groundwork of violet velvet. There was the winged dragon belching flames, there was the fierce and glowing motto "Bocca nera, Alma rossa" (black mouth, red soul), the mouth darkened by a roar, the soul flaming like a brazier of faith and love. And behold! all that old race ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... Denmark, tumuli seem to be described indifferently as Zettestuer (Giants' Chambers) or Troldestuer (Fairies' Chambers).[B] In "Beowulf" a chambered tumulus is described, in the recesses of which were treasures watched over for three hundred years by a dragon. This barrow was of stone, and the work ...
— A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients • Edward Tyson

... hovered odd little creatures like birds, but with teeth in their long snouts and small frondlike growths on each side of their tails. About some swamp plants with very large blooms resembling passion flowers, flitted dragon flies of jeweled hues and enormous size, and under the flowers hopped strange toadlike creatures equipped with two pair of ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930 • Various

... came again, lovelier than ever in another yellow gown trimmed with the wings of dragon flies, and with pearls in her ...
— Stories to Read or Tell from Fairy Tales and Folklore • Laure Claire Foucher

... hour or two we shall be on the broad stream of Life once more. The current is very strong sometimes. But here there is no current, nor any time, nor action. Only the sun makes shining patches on the water, while now and again dragon-flies dart through the sleepy hum of insect life, like bright thoughts flashing across a reverie. Now, isn't that nice? I really don't know how I do it. But to resume. No one knew of our turning aside—no one will see us return. For us the universe is ...
— The Brother of Daphne • Dornford Yates

... northward from Palat-kwabi and continued to travel just as long as any strength was left in the people—as long as they had breath. During these journeys we would halt only for one day at a time. Then our chief planted corn in the morning and the p-to-la-tei (dragon fly) came and hovered over the stalks and by noon the corn was ripe; before sunset it was quite dry and the stalks fell over, and whichever way they pointed in that direction ...
— Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona • Cosmos Mindeleff

... is no figure of a lizard, dragon, or chimera, whichever it is, under the horse's feet, as represented ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 188, June 4, 1853 • Various

... above, My lover I shall gain, or lose my love; Nigh rising Atlas, next the falling sun Long tracts of Ethiopian climates run: There a Massylian priestess I have found, Honored for age, for magic arts renowned: The Hesperian temple was her trusted care; 'Twas she supplied the wakeful dragon's fare; She, poppy-seeds in honey taught to steep, Reclaimed his rage, and soothed him into sleep; She watched the golden fruit. Her charms unbind The chains of love, or fix them on the mind; She stops the torrent, leaves the channel dry, Repels the stars, and backward bears the sky. The yawning ...
— Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II • Charles Upham

... 'Traineau' to the character of the fair-one whom it is to contain. If she is of an irascible, impetuous disposition (as fine women can sometimes be), you will doubtless place her in the body of a lion, a tiger, a dragon, or some tremendous beast of prey and fury; if she is a sublime and stately beauty, which I think more probable (for unquestionably she is 'hogh gebohrne'), you will, I suppose, provide a magnificent swan or proud peacock for her reception; but if she is all tenderness and softness, ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield

... captive monster, Steam, though in the early days of its servitude, was working well in harness, while in America Morse was after the lightning, lassoing it with his galvanic wires. In England the steam- dragon had begun by killing one of his keepers, and was distrusted by most English people, who still preferred post-horses and stage-coaches— all the good old ways beloved by hostel-keepers, Tony Welters, postilions and pot-boys. There was something fearful, supernatural, almost profane and Providence-defying ...
— Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood • Grace Greenwood

... you, mademoiselle. I am one of those who think that in the very framing of this Constitution of ours the dragon's teeth were sown, whose harvest is not yet produced. Mr. Calhoun, with his prophetic eye, foresees that this crop of armed men is inevitable from such germs, as does Mr. Clay, were he only frank, which he is not, because he deludes ...
— Miriam Monfort - A Novel • Catherine A. Warfield

... of the incline, and from some pools in the neighbourhood issued a loud croaking of frogs, while the pallid smoke of the furnaces, pressed down by the evening dew, trailed earthward in a long twisted wreath, like a dragon crawling sulkily to his den. But on the north side one could hear the nightingales singing in the gardens below. The dark mass of Mount Gargano rose up clearly in the moonlight, and I began to sketch out some itinerary of my wanderings ...
— Old Calabria • Norman Douglas

... the things he did. The rugs, for instance, happened to be of silk, the bookcase happened to be Hepplewhite, the piano bore the most eminent of makers' names. There were three mezzotints on the walls, a dragon's-blood vase on the high, carved chimney-piece; the whole bore the unmistakable stamp of a fine, ...
— Michael • E. F. Benson

... afternoon, that he was very busy at a map, or bird's-eye view of an island, whereon was a great castle, and at the gate thereof a dragon, terrible to see; while in the foreground came that which was meant for a gallant ship, with a great flag aloft, but which, by reason of the forest of lances with which it was crowded, looked much more like a porcupine ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley

... Your dreams, even your day-dreams, have hurried you ever far off and away from the beaten turnpike-road of life, through forests of enchantment, to rescue beauty which you never saw, from knight-begirt and dragon-guarded castles; and little thankful have you been when you have opened your eyes awake in peace to the cold light of our misnamed utilitarian day, and found all your enchantment broken, the knights discomfited, the dragon killed, the drawbridge broken down, and the ladies free—all without ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 • Various

... before, at the sight of which our nervous folks are agitated. Here is a monitor with a drag behind it, which has just fished up one; and the sequel is told by a bloody and motionless figure upon the deck. These torpedoes are the true dragon teeth of Cadmus, which ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend

... pointing downwards, because illuminated from above, and the twelve stars are to form a crown over her head. The robe must be of spotless white; the mantle or scarf blue. Round her are to hover cherubim bearing roses, palms, and lilies; the head of the bruised and vanquished dragon is to be under her feet. She ought to have the cord of St. Francis as a girdle, because in this guise she appeared to Beatriz de Silva, a noble Franciscan nun, who was favoured by a celestial vision ...
— Legends of the Madonna • Mrs. Jameson

... enough of magnificence; you shall repose in a desert. Old Wortley Montagu lives on the very spot where the dragon of Wantley did, only I believe the latter was much better lodged: you never saw such a wretched hovel; lean, unpainted, and half its nakedness barely shaded with harateen stretched till it cracks. Here the miser hoards health and money, his only two objects: he has chronicles ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... that if the house-fly were made equal to the horse in size, and had its muscular power increased in the same proportion, it would be able to traverse the globe with the rapidity of lightning. The dragon-fly often remains on the wing in pursuit of its prey for hours at a stretch, and yet will sometimes baffle the swallow by its speed, although that bird is calculated to be able to move at the rate of a mile in a minute. But the dexterity of this insect is even more ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 437 - Volume 17, New Series, May 15, 1852 • Various

... of a few hours Mr. and Mrs. Skratdj recovered their equanimity. The punch was brewed in a jug, and tasted quite as good as usual. The evening was very lively. There were a Christmas tree, Yule cakes, log, and candles, furmety, and snap-dragon after supper. When the company was tired of the tree, and had gained an appetite by the hard exercise of stretching to high branches, blowing out "dangerous" tapers, and cutting ribbon and pack-thread in all directions, supper ...
— Last Words - A Final Collection of Stories • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... pulled the flower from the stalk when there arose a great noise, and flames darted from the earth, and all at once there appeared a terrible Monster with the figure of a dragon, and hissed with all his might, and cried out, enraged at that poor Christian: "Rash man! what have you done? Now you must die at once, for you have had the audacity to touch and destroy my rose-bush." The poor man, more than half dead with terror, began to weep ...
— Italian Popular Tales • Thomas Frederick Crane

... matter of your lessons in Tobit, Judith, Bel and the Dragon, &c., is scarce agreeable to the ...
— Coleridge's Literary Remains, Volume 4. • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... as the Punjab comes sliding down, the round world to welcome its curled darling. It spurns with contemptuous piston the vulgar corn-growing provinces of Couper; it seeks the fields that are sown with dragon's teeth; it hisses forward with furious joy, like the flaming chariot of some Heaven-booked Prophet. Already Egerton anticipates its welcome advent. He can hardly sit still on his pro-consular throne; he smiles in dockets and demi-officials; he walks up and down his alabaster halls, ...
— Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series • George Robert Aberigh-Mackay

... stirring from their fifty years of slumber and dreams of everlasting peace, to rise like some giant from the shores of the Western Atlantic and, with overwhelming force, to stride eastward and help lay low the German dragon once and for ...
— 1914 • John French, Viscount of Ypres

... first, the island, by its export of wood and dragon's blood and wheat, began to reward the trouble of discovery and settlement. Sugar and wine were brought to perfection in later years, after the great "Seven years' fire" had burnt down the forests and enriched the soil of Madeira. ...
— Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 A.D. • C. Raymond Beazley

... at last our bliss Full and perfect is, But now begins; for from this happy day The old Dragon, under ground In straiter limits bound, Not half so far casts his usurped sway; And, wroth to see his Kingdom fail, Swinges the scaly ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various

... appended to this everlasting covenant (called new not in respect of its date: it being made from everlasting, and will continue forever,) to ensure us an entrance into the gates of the holy city. Answer. The testimony of Jesus. Rev. xii: 17. "That old dragon the devil is pursuing the remnant (the last end) of God's children, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." In the xiv: 12, John says the faith of Jesus, (same meaning.) Now what is this faith or "testimony of Jesus?" John shows that he was banished to Patmos ...
— The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign - 1847 edition • Joseph Bates

... very quaint and strange. Some are sacred, some grotesque. We can see S. Peter with the keys, kings, queens, and minstrels; we find also a head with two faces, a monkey riding backwards on a goat, a human figure with head and hoofs of an ass, a donkey playing a harp, a winged dragon, a dancing lion, an eagle, and other ...
— The Cathedral Church of Peterborough - A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See • W.D. Sweeting

... something neither ancient nor modern, always new and incapable of growing old. It is not his Latin which makes Horace cosmopolitan, nor can Beranger's French prevent his becoming so. No hedge of language however thorny, no dragon-coil of centuries, will keep men away from these true apples of the Hesperides if once they have caught sight or scent of them. If poems die, it is because there was never true life in them, that is, that true poetic vitality which ...
— Among My Books • James Russell Lowell

... covers the thorn, O'er the waste is the dragon-plant creeping. The man of my heart is away and I mourn— What home ...
— Chinese Literature • Anonymous

... be so," answered the waiting-maid, pouting, "you may find some one else, Mistress Eveline, to tell you about the plots of the old dragon, who has us in ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams

... on the south being the "Painted Desert," so called by Ives. Mountains solid and solitary rose up here and there and line upon line of strangely coloured cliffs broke across the wide area, while from our feet stretching off to the south-west like a great dark dragon extending miles into the blue was the deep gorge of Marble Canyon, its tributary chasms appearing like mighty sprawling legs. Far away west were the San Francisco Mountains, and the Kaibab, while behind we saw Navajo ...
— A Canyon Voyage • Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

... dragon breathing out fire. {91b} Flicht and wary, fluctuate and change. {92b} Frawfull fary, froward tumult. {152c} Fyke, fuss. {30} Fytte, a song, canto. First English, fit, a song. When Wisdom "thas fitte asungen haefde" had sung this song. King ...
— Playful Poems • Henry Morley

... after the event—long after the event—they have widely opened their mouths and uttered prophecies. Thus the name of the house, describing a beast such as never was on sea or land, distinctly warned a drowsy people that the monstrous dragon of Siegfried was about to take the road leading from Nowhere to Bayreuth. The spring foretold the songs in Tannhaeuser and the Valkyrie; the summer, the nights in King Mark's Cornish castle-garden and amongst the fragrant lime-trees in ...
— Richard Wagner - Composer of Operas • John F. Runciman

... handed over the church to the Senior Chaplain of the British division which took our place, and he had the building taken down, put in lorries, and re-erected in the village of Roclincourt, where he adorned it with a painted window of St. George and the Dragon. ...
— The Great War As I Saw It • Frederick George Scott

... ounces of dragon's-blood, bruised, into a quart of oil of turpentine; let the bottle stand in a warm place, shake frequently, and, when dissolved, steep the work ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous

... things small and small things great; a topsy-turvydom of stone in the mid-air. Details of stone, enormous by their proximity, were relieved against a pattern of fields and farms, pygmy in their distance. A carved bird or beast at a corner seemed like some vast walking or flying dragon wasting the pastures and villages below. The whole atmosphere was dizzy and dangerous, as if men were upheld in air amid the gyrating wings of colossal genii; and the whole of that old church, as tall and rich as a cathedral, seemed to sit ...
— The Innocence of Father Brown • G. K. Chesterton

... actually hear (although from what direction it proceeded I found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant, but harsh, protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound, the exact counterpart of what my fancy had already conjured up for the dragon's unnatural shriek, as described by the romancer. Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of this second and most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid ...
— Initial Studies in American Letters • Henry A. Beers

... the tone of a person who heard the name for the first time. She considered a little, and leaning across Jervy, addressed herself to his companion. "My dear," she whispered, "did that gentleman ever go by the name of Morgan, and have his letters addressed to the George and Dragon, in Tooley-street?" ...
— The Fallen Leaves • Wilkie Collins

... Mensur honourable to students, place his chief trust in his Junkers, who live and move and have their being in the game of war, foster the aggressive spirit in the nation, and hold out ambitions which can only be fulfilled by an appeal to arms: a ruler cannot for ever continue to saw the dragon's teeth and only reap harvests of yellow ...
— German Problems and Personalities • Charles Sarolea

... frescoes,—a little bewildering in their crowded beauty, it is true, but how good after all in their liveliness, their light and shadow, the pleasant, eager faces of the women—where St. John raises Drusiana from the grave, or St. Philip drives out the Dragon of Hierapolis; while above St. John is martyred, and St. Philip too. But it is in the choir behind the high altar, where for so long the scaffolding has prevented our sight, that we come upon the simple serious work of Domencio Ghirlandajo, whom all the critics have ...
— Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa • Edward Hutton

... went into the children's room, where the faithful old Fin-woman, Brigitta, lay and guarded, like the dragon, her treasures. The children slept as children sleep. The father stroked the beautiful curling hair of the boy, but impressed a kiss on the rosy cheek of each girl. After this the parents returned to their own chamber. Elise lay down to rest; her husband sate down ...
— The Home • Fredrika Bremer

... below Wan Hsien. Sometimes styled Glorious Dragon Rapid, it constitutes the last formidable stepping-stone during low river onward to Chung-king; was formed by a landslip as recently as 1896, when the whole side of a hill falling into the stream reduced its breadth to less than a fourth ...
— Across China on Foot • Edwin Dingle

... "she's got possession of Ida; and, from all that you say, she is not the best person to bring her up. I am determined to rescue Ida from this she-dragon. Will you help ...
— Timothy Crump's Ward - A Story of American Life • Horatio Alger

... the little fellow, "suppose you go in there and buy a dragon, or a silk coat, or a tin elephant. Anything to give you a notion as to what is going on in the shop." The lad was off in a moment, and then the ...
— Boy Scouts in a Submarine • G. Harvey Ralphson

... been more particularly attracted by an escutcheon carved above one of the ground-floor windows, the escutcheon of the Boccaneras, a winged dragon venting flames, and underneath it he could plainly read the motto which had remained intact: "Bocca nera, Alma rossa" (black mouth, red soul). Above another window, as a pendant to the escutcheon, there was one of those little shrines which are still common ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... slinging his quiver on his back started out. He had not gone far when he came to the bridge of Seta-no-Karashi spanning one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. No sooner had he set foot on the bridge than he saw lying right across his path a huge serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that it looked like the trunk of a large pine tree and it took up the whole width of the bridge. One of its huge claws rested on the parapet of one side of the bridge, while its tail lay right ...
— Japanese Fairy Tales • Yei Theodora Ozaki

... who works and labours, who wars against the evil, who fights for the good. The psalmist speaks of Him as "The Lord of Hosts, strong and mighty in battle." The Revelation of St. John tells us that "There was war in Heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon." Jesus Christ said: "I came not to ...
— What Peace Means • Henry van Dyke

... You do nothing like another man. Where another fellow would fall into a footbath of action or emotion, you fall into a mine. Where any other fellow would be a painted butterfly, you are a fiery dragon. Where another man would stake a sixpence, you stake your existence. If you were to go up in a balloon, you would make for Heaven; and if you were to dive into the depths of the earth, nothing short of the other place would ...
— The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices • Charles Dickens

... kindly hands Like these were his that stands With heel on gorge Seen trampling down the dragon On sign or flask ...
— Studies in Song, A Century of Roundels, Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets, The Heptalogia, Etc - From Swinburne's Poems Volume V. • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... were the King's Head, at the corner of Fleet and North Streets; the Indian Queen, on a passageway leading from Washington Street to Hawley Street; the Sun, in Faneuil Hall Square, and the Green Dragon, which became one of ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... with the description of the picnic party, which lasted until we had pulled far beyond Kew Bridge. We thrust the bow of the wherry into a bunch of sedges, and then we sat down to our meal, surrounded by hundreds of blue dragon-flies, that flitted about as if to inquire what we meant by intruding upon their domiciles. We continued there chatting and amusing ourselves till it was late, and then shoved off and pulled down with the stream. The sun had set, ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat

... their cattle, or the herbs in the field; and whose clothing, to the dishonour of God and man, is nakedness. Yet notwithstanding all the dismal appearances, it is the common phrase of our upstart race of people, who have suddenly sprang up like the dragon's teeth among us, That Ireland was never known to be so rich as it is now; by which, as I apprehend, they can only mean themselves, for they have skipped over the channel from the vantage ground of a dunghill upon no other merit, either ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. VII - Historical and Political Tracts—Irish • Jonathan Swift

... windows. I stared out into the street and could scarcely believe my eyes. The houses in the market place just beyond were all little one-story buildings with bow windows and wooden eave troughs ending in carved dragon heads. Most of them had balconies of carved woodwork, and high stone stoops with ...
— The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations • Julian Hawthorne

... displayed. It is not the virtuous, the benevolent, the amiable, that your child delights to imitate, but rather the tyrant and the destroyer, the ogre who subsists in rude plenty on the peasantry of the neighborhood, or the dragon who is restricted by taste or convention to one young lady per diem, till the national stock is exhausted, or the inevitable knight turns up to supply the proper ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885 • Various

... locality. Not far from the farm where Fuller's daily work was done, the tragedy of Bloody Brook was enacted; the fields which he tilled have their legend of Indian ambuscade and massacre; the soil is sown, as with dragon's teeth, with the arrow-heads and battle-axes of many bitter conflicts; even to the ancient house where, in recent years, the painter's summer easel was set up, a former owner was brought home with the red ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No. VI. June, 1884 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various

... the ancient oracles. Such was the case with certain optical delusions, which were practised on the unsuspecting, and were contrived to produce on them the effect of supernatural revelations. Such is the story of Bel and the Dragon in the book of Apocrypha, where the priests daily placed before the idol twelve measures of flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine, pretending that the idol consumed all these provisions, when in fact they entered ...
— Lives of the Necromancers • William Godwin

... inspired; that he was God, King, Emperor, and that he ought to rule; so, puffed up with pride and insatiable ambition, he began raising an army; and aimed at nothing less than the usurpation of the "Dragon Throne." Some thought him mad; but he gathered about him some 20,000 men whom he had influenced to believe in him as the "Second Celestial Brother," and gave out he was a seer of visions, a prophet of vengeance and freedom; a champion of the poor and oppressed; ...
— General Gordon - Saint and Soldier • J. Wardle

... pointed to the coming redemption of Israel, and taught Moses a specific lesson. At the bidding of God, Moses cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent, to show him that when he traduced Israel, he was following the example of the abusive serpent, and also to show him that the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers of Egypt, though he was now hacking into Israel with his teeth, would be rendered harmless like the rod of wood, which has no power ...
— The Legends of the Jews Volume 1 • Louis Ginzberg

... their most peculiar characteristics, and recalls to my mind a fine passage of Ezekiel, where God thus speaks to Pharaoh, one of their kings, "Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself."(398) God perceived an insupportable pride in the heart of this prince: a sense of security and confidence in the inundations of the Nile, independent ...
— The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, • Charles Rollin

... in his attic. The causes of this wretched state of affairs may be easily imagined. The peasant woman watched this son of the North with the affection of a mother, with the jealousy of a wife, and the spirit of a dragon; hence she managed to put every kind of folly or dissipation out of his power by leaving him destitute of money. She longed to keep her victim and companion for herself alone, well conducted perforce, and she had no conception of the cruelty of this senseless ...
— Cousin Betty • Honore de Balzac

... it was cool with the shadow of many well-grown palms; draughts of the dying breeze swung them together overhead; and on all sides, with a swiftness beyond dragon-flies or swallows, the spots of sunshine flitted, and hovered, and returned. Underfoot, the sand was fairly solid and quite level, and Herrick's steps fell there noiseless as in new-fallen snow. It bore the marks of having been once ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. XIX (of 25) - The Ebb-Tide; Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Himalayas are the source of the country's name which translates as Land of the Thunder Dragon; frequent ...
— The 2003 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... The dragon of old, who churches ate (He used to come on a Sunday), Whole congregations were to him But a dish ...
— Successful Recitations • Various

... joyfully observed. But the King was faithful to his old policy of a blockade. A bridge of ships was thrown across the Menai Straits, and the forests between Wales proper and the English border were hewn down by an army of pioneers. The King's banner, the golden dragon, showed ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI. • Various

... us of the dragon of old, which was generated between the sunbeams from heaven and the ...
— Characteristics of Women - Moral, Poetical, and Historical • Anna Jameson

... cash. Without cash your hopefullest Projector cannot stir from the spot: individual patriotic or other Projects require cash: how much more do wide-spread Intrigues, which live and exist by cash; lying widespread, with dragon-appetite for cash; fit to swallow Princedoms! And so Prince Philippe, amid his Sillerys, Lacloses, and confused Sons of Night, has rolled along: the centre of the strangest cloudy coil; out of which has visibly come, as we often say, an Epic Preternatural ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... no mouth that we could perceive, but, as if to make up for this deficiency, it was provided with at least four score of eyes, that protruded from their sockets like those of the green dragon-fly, and were arranged all around the body in two rows, one above the other, and parallel to the blood-red streak, which seemed to answer the purpose of an eyebrow. Two or three of these dreadful eyes were much larger than ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 2 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... squire throughout the twelve days of Christmas, provided everything was done conformably to ancient usage. Here were kept up the old games of hoodman blind, shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple, and snap dragon; the Yule-clog and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe with its white berries hung up, to the imminent peril ...
— The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. • Washington Irving

... distract his thoughts, he had at times a curious sense that the boy was teaching him—that his sermon was running before, or walking sedately on this side of him or that. For Clare could run like the wind; and did run after butterflies, dragon-flies, or anything that offered a chance of seeing it nearer; but he never killed, and seldom tried to catch anything, if but for a moment's examination. The swiftest run would scarcely heighten the colour ...
— A Rough Shaking • George MacDonald

... turning to the lad as she spoke, "Ally and I have made up our minds that, whatever happens, we'll have a right good Christmas. We'll have a puddin' and snap-dragon, and a little bit of beef, and everything hot and tasty, and we'll have the stockings hung up just as usual by the children's beds; bless 'em, we'll manage it somehow—somehow or other it has got to be done. Who knows but perhaps cheerful times may follow Christmas? Yes, who knows? There's ...
— Good Luck • L. T. Meade

... the Burlings, and the 29 being thwart of Peniche, the winde seruing vs, without any stay we directed our course West for the Islands. The 30 day we met with Captaine Royden in the Red-Rose, sometime called the Golden Dragon, separated from my Lorde of Cumberland in a storme: who certified vs of 50 sayles of the Spanish kings Armadas to be gone for the Ilands, but could not informe vs any newes of my Lord Thomas Howard, otherwise then vpon presumption to remaine about the ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, v. 7 - England's Naval Exploits Against Spain • Richard Hakluyt

... "If that Lygian dragon has not torn him to pieces at the first attack, he is alive, and if he is alive he himself will testify that I have not betrayed him; and then not only does nothing threaten me, but—O Hermes, count again on two heifers—a fresh field ...
— Quo Vadis - A Narrative of the Time of Nero • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... therefore, the sin of the foremost angel was the cause of the others sinning, in that he induced them to subject themselves to him, then the lower angels would have sinned more deeply than the highest one; which is contrary to a gloss on Ps. 103:26: "This dragon which Thou hast formed—He who was the more excellent than the rest in nature, became the greater in malice." Therefore the sin of the highest angel was not the cause of ...
— Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas

... possible grace, he presents you with a light just as you open your eyes. A night lamp next attracted me, which represented Mount Vesuvius, and the means by which it is lighted, proceeds from an enormous dragon emitting fire from his throat; this article is equally useful as a paper press. Another night lamp I found particularly elegant, though perfectly simple, consisting merely of a gilded branch, gracefully carved into a sort of festoon, from which was suspended a little lamp ...
— How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 • F. Herve

... similar reason, and had been broken-hearted ever afterwards. In the Third Act it really seemed as though they were coming together at last; for at the beginning of it Mr. Levinski took them both aside and told the audience a parable about a butterfly and a snap-dragon, which was both pretty and helpful, and caused several middle-aged ladies in the first and second rows of the upper circle to say, "What a nice man Mr. Levinski must be at home, dear!"—the purport of the allegory being to show that both Dick and Winifred were being very silly, as indeed ...
— Once a Week • Alan Alexander Milne

... clothes, and bade me pack my own (which were wholly unsuited to the journey) in a bundle. Sore grudging, I arrayed myself in a suit of some country fabric, as delicate as sackcloth and about as becoming as a shroud; and, on coming forth, found the dragon had prepared for me a hearty breakfast. She took the head of the table, poured out the tea, and entertained me as I ate with a great deal of good sense and a conspicuous lack of charm. How often did I not ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Malin's kite; it represented a wonderful Green Dragon, twisting and turning about in the most extraordinary way—the tail of the kite being merely the small end of the tail of the dragon. It had great big red eyes, glowing with tinsel, and wings glittering all over, ...
— Ernest Bracebridge - School Days • William H. G. Kingston

... GEORGE 'e went a-ridin' all naked through the lands— You can see 'im on the back of 'arf-a-quid— 'E spiked the fiery dragon with a spear in both 'is 'ands, But to-day, if 'e 'd to do what then he did, 'E 'd roll up easy in an armoured car, 'E 'd loose off a little Lewis gun, Then 'e 'd 'oist the scaly dragon upon a G.S. wagon And cart 'im 'ome to show the job ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, April 11, 1917 • Various

... up fleet as the wind and swift as the swallow, fierce as a dragon, strong as a lion, advancing against Ferdiad through clouds of dust, and forcing himself upon his shield, to strike at him from above. Yet even then Ferdiad shook him off, driving him backwards ...
— Ireland, Historic and Picturesque • Charles Johnston

... litters appeared; they had neither runners nor attendants, as my father had requested, and when the princesses alighted—both at the same moment—I knew not which way to turn my eyes first, for the creature that fluttered like a dragon-fly rather than stepped from the first litter, was not a girl like other mortals—she seemed like a wish, a hope. When the dainty, beautiful creature turned her head hither and thither, and at last gazed questioningly, as if beseeching help, into the faces of my father ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... sullenly down Into its hiding town, Even though the lightning were still in its heart, The broken dragon, drawing in its fury, Had croucht to mend its shatter'd malice, Had lifted its head again and spat against God. But God its endlessly devising brain, Its braving spirit, its captain Sisera, Into the hands of another woman brought: In nets of her persuasion She that wild spirit caught, ...
— Emblems Of Love • Lascelles Abercrombie

... own way of considerable importance. The first chapel with which we need concern ourselves is numbered 4, and shows the Conception of the Virgin Mary. It represents St. Anne as kneeling before a terrific dragon or, as the Italians call it, "insect," about the size of a Crystal Palace pleiosaur. This "insect" is supposed to have just had its head badly crushed by St. Anne, who seems to be begging its pardon. The text "Ipsa conteret caput tuum" is written outside the chapel. The figures have no artistic ...
— Essays on Life, Art and Science • Samuel Butler

... shedding darkness round about it, and lighting white artificial light in it. It lay low, like a bog with the land sloping down to it on all sides, and all water running into it. Its luminous mist seemed to reach to the uttermost borders of the land; everything came this way. Large dragon-flies hovered over the bog in metallic splendor; gnats danced above it like careless shadows. A ceaseless hum rose from it, and below lay the depth that had fostered them, seething so that he could hear ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo

... the throne of China, and ruled over what was for a great portion of the time the largest empire on earth. Nurhachu, the real founder of the Manchu power, was born in 1559, from a virile stock, and was soon recognised to be an extraordinary child. We need not linger over his dragon face, his phoenix eye, or even over his large, drooping ears, which have always been associated by the Chinese with intellectual ability. He first came into prominence in 1583, when, at twenty-four years of age, he took up arms, at the head of only one hundred and thirty ...
— China and the Manchus • Herbert A. Giles

... Trinity, which was so dear to me, and which held on its foundation so many who had been kind to me both when I was a boy, and all through my Oxford life. Trinity had never been unkind to me. There used to be much snap-dragon growing on the walls opposite my freshman's rooms there, and I had for years taken it as the emblem of my own perpetual residence even unto ...
— Apologia Pro Vita Sua • John Henry Cardinal Newman

... Henricus, regna Jacobus, implying that as Henry united roses, James united kingdoms. Though foreign to our subject, we may mention here, as it is not generally known, that it was James who removed the red dragon of the Tudors from the royal arms, placing as a supporter in its stead the unicorn of Scotland. We meet with only one device of the unfortunate Charles. It represented a snake that had just cast its skin, the motto, Paratior (More ready.) During the civil war, ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 444 - Volume 18, New Series, July 3, 1852 • Various

... seated in the stately ebony chairs on the chairman's right, with the yellow, shining-faced, wadded or corpulent directors opposite to us, excellent tea with an unusual flavor was brought in, and served in cups of antique green dragon china. The Governor made kindly remarks on the hospital, which fluent Mr. Ng Choy doubtless rendered into the most fulsome flattery; the chairman complimented the Governor, and unlimited "soft sawder," in Oriental fashion, passed ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)

... close by the great tree, a horrible dragon, called Nidhug, continually gnawed the roots, and was helped in his work of destruction by countless worms, whose aim it was to kill the tree, knowing that its death would be the signal for the ...
— Myths of the Norsemen - From the Eddas and Sagas • H. A. Guerber

... developed a high literary capacity is evident, for the anniversary of the suicide of the celebrated Ts'u poet K'ueh Yiian (envoy to Ts'i during the fierce diplomatic intrigues of 31 B.C.) has been kept up as the annual "dragon festival" down to our own times, in memory of his suicide by drowning in the Tung-t'ing Lake district; and his poems are amongst the most beautiful in the Chinese language. In 656 B.C. the dictatorial First Protector tried to play the role of the wolf, with Ts'u in the character of the lamb: ...
— Ancient China Simplified • Edward Harper Parker

... in shark-infested seas on Terra, been carefully briefed against the danger from such hunters of the deep and ocean jungles. But this kind of thing had only existed before in the fairy tales of his race as the dragon of old lore. A scaled head with wide eyes gleaming in the light beam with cold and sullen hate, a gaping mouth fang-filled, a horn-set muzzle, that long, undulating neck and, below it, the half-seen bulk of a ...
— Key Out of Time • Andre Alice Norton

... different ways,' said Mr. Perrin. 'Your particular way's simple. You just got to kill the dragon.' ...
— The Magic City • Edith Nesbit

... matter with you?" asked Marian crossly. "You make me tired. Why did you say to that old dragon that she'd been kinder to us than we deserved? It wasn't necessary. The idea of her turning us out of Madison Hall. And we can't do anything to stop her, either. She has the whip hand and she knows it. It's a positive outrage and the whole affair is Elsie's fault, ...
— Jane Allen: Right Guard • Edith Bancroft

... other's hair; yonder a bully was threatening attack, and three cowards appeared to be running away from him with such speed that they were tumbling over one another's heels. In one place a horrible dragon was devouring a squirming, shapeless animal; in another, a drunken man, with whirling arms and tangled feet, was pitching forward upon his face. The living wood in Dante was ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867 • Various

... champion Ethelred, now entering within the door, was sore enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the maliceful hermit; but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanor, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace of gold, with a floor of silver; and upon the wall there hung a shield of shining brass ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 2 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... as well as a stupa erected[60] to commemorate Sakyamuni's prediction that Maitreya would be his successor. On attaining Buddhahood he will become lord of a terrestrial paradise and hold three assemblies under a dragon flower tree,[61] at which all who have been good Buddhists in previous births will become Arhats. I-Ching speaks of meditating on the advent of Maitreya in language like that which Christian piety uses of the second coming of Christ and concludes a poem which is incorporated in his work with ...
— Hinduism And Buddhism, Volume II. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot

... down knight on knight, till they themselves were borne to earth at last. And here, among the trees and ruins of the garden, kept trim by those who know the treasure which they own, stood Harold's two standards of the fighting-man and the dragon of Wessex. And here, close by (for here, for many a century, stood the high altar of Battle Abbey, where monks sang masses for Harold's soul), upon this very spot the Swan-neck found her hero-lover's corpse. ...
— Historical Lectures and Essays • Charles Kingsley

... he cried, "may the Red Dragon make his next meal of thee, and use thy bones for chopsticks! my life is of no value to me, on account of thy tormentings. Am I never to be ...
— Five Mice in a Mouse-trap - by the Man in the Moon. • Laura E. Richards

... the test. But Matta proceeded upon a wrong plan; he had conceived such an aversion for her husband, that he could not prevail upon himself to make the smallest advance towards his good graces. He was given to understand that he ought to begin by endeavouring to lull the dragon to sleep, before he could gain possession of the treasure; but this was all to no purpose, though, at the same time, he could never see his mistress but in public. This made him impatient, and as he was lamenting ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... tanneries whose tall drying-houses with open sides were outlined in blue against the sky; and then the ill-defined plains of Montsouris, vast tracts of land scorched and stripped of vegetation by the fiery breath that Paris exhales around its daily toil, like a monstrous dragon, whose breath of flame and smoke suffers no vegetation within ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... are there in the sixth heaven. The Chimney Swift has made himself one of them, that they may never be defeated. The pleasing stakes are in the seventh heaven. The Blue Dragon-fly has made himself one of them, that they may never ...
— The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees • James Mooney

... and from the left, over the close horizon of the small satellite, the Polaris swept into view like a red-tailed fire dragon. It shot up in a pretouchdown maneuver, and then began to drop slowly to the surface of ...
— Danger in Deep Space • Carey Rockwell

... apparently the simplest elementary knowledge of geology, he opened a battery of abuse. He gives it to the world at large by pulpit and press; he even inflicts it upon leading statesmen by private letters. But these weapons did not succeed. They were like Chinese gongs and dragon lanterns against rifled cannon. Buckland, Pye Smith, Lyell, Silliman, Hitchcock, Murchison, Agassiz, Dana, and a host of of noble champions besides, pressed on the battle for truth was won. And was it won merely for men of science? The whole civilized world declares that ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... of the family lies on a knoll overlooking the lake and the garden valley, a rambling construction of brown wood with grey scale-like tiles, resembling a domesticated dragon stretching itself in ...
— Kimono • John Paris

... Christ," "The Holy Family." Who has not heard of Da Vinci's "Last Supper"? Who has not heard of Turner's "Pools of Solomon"? Who has not heard of Claude's "Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca"? Who has not heard of Duerer's "Dragon of the Apocalypse"? The mightiest picture on this planet is Rubens' "Scourging of Christ." Painter's pencil loves to sketch the face of Christ. Sculptor's chisel loves to present the form of Christ. Organs love to roll forth the sorrows ...
— New Tabernacle Sermons • Thomas De Witt Talmage

... aren't got narrun—beer, cider, nor limonade—nary a drop. 'Tiddn' no manner o' good for you chaps to stan' there. You'd best toddle along up to The Green Dragon an' see if Mas'r ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, August 1, 1917. • Various

... of Lexington spread, everywhere producing wild excitement. The notes of warlike preparation were heard throughout the land. With deliberate purpose General Gage had sown the dragon's teeth, and there literally sprung up a bountiful crop of armed men. Every village and every farm-house helped to swell the number. The remotest hamlet furnished its contingent. In distant Connecticut, gallant old General Putnam heard the news while plowing. ...
— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... A dragon-fly glittered before them for an instant. Far across the rolling country they caught the faint, silvery flash of Isla ...
— In Secret • Robert W. Chambers

... under the Mexican empire. Cortes then produced a richly carved and painted arm-chair, some artificial jewels called margajitas[3] enveloped in perfumed cotton, a string of artificial diamonds, and a crimson velvet montero cap ornamented with a gold medal of St George killing the dragon; which he requested Teuchtlile to convey to Montezuma as a present from the king of Spain, and to signify his request to be permitted to wait upon him. The chief made answer, that his sovereign would assuredly be happy to hold intercourse with ours, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr

... Chimera; in the fabulous ages before that, he would have come down to us a god, or a demi-god, the rival of Prometheus, Hercules, and Atlas. Why not cast him in Achillean brass, the rival of the great hero of gunpowder and Waterloo, and make him breathe gas like the Dragon of Wantley, to illuminate the triumphal ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 14, Issue 394, October 17, 1829 • Various

... or shop; it ended in favour of the shop. Waring thought we had better be quiet, and I believe he still thinks we are doing it for amusement; but he never refuses to help us. He is teaching us book-keeping, and he buys things for us now and then. Mary gets as fierce as a dragon and goes to all the wholesale stores and looks at things, gets patterns, samples, etc., and asks prices, and then comes home, and we talk it over; and then she goes again and buys what we want. She says the people ...
— Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle • Clement K. Shorter

... longer extant, having been destroyed in the Tping rebellion in 1850. It was a nine-storied polygonal pagoda 236 feet high, revetted with porcelain tiles, and was built in 1412. The largest of Chinese temples, that of the Great Dragon at Pekin, is a circular structure of moderate size, though its enclosure is nearly a mile square. Pagodas with diminishing stories, elaborately carved entrance gates and successive terraces are mainly relied upon for effect. They show ...
— A Text-Book of the History of Architecture - Seventh Edition, revised • Alfred D. F. Hamlin

... tower and its owners more odious than the collection of duties from voyagers on the river. There is a sad story connected with the Broemserberg Castle, which we saw above. Broemser of Ruedesheim went to Palestine with the crusaders, and, while there, distinguished himself by slaying a dragon which made itself very annoying to the Christian army. He was immediately after captured by the Saracen forces, and reduced to slavery. While in this condition, he made a solemn vow, that if he were ever permitted to return to his castle ...
— Down the Rhine - Young America in Germany • Oliver Optic

... our houses look down there!" Harald said. "But I can almost—yes, I can see the red dragon on the roof of the feast hall. Do you remember when I climbed up and sat ...
— Viking Tales • Jennie Hall



Words linked to "Dragon" :   green dragon, unpleasant woman, agamid, dragon tree, agamid lizard, mythical creature, wyvern, false dragon head, firedrake, mythical monster, Bel and the Dragon, Fafnir, dragon's eye, dragon's head, wivern, constellation, water dragon, dragon's blood, flying dragon, Komodo dragon, genus Draco, dragon lizard, dragon's mouth



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