firedrake
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English firdrake, from Old English fȳrdraca (“fire-spewing dragon”), equivalent to fire + drake.
Noun edit
firedrake (plural firedrakes)
- A fire-breathing dragon.
- 1913, Helene A. Guerber, The Book of the Epic:
- […] the incensed firedrake, in revenge, flies all over the land, vomiting fire and smoke in every direction, […]
- 1895, W Morris, AJ Wyatt (trans.), The Tale of Beowulf (2689):
- Then was the folk-scather for the third of times yet, The fierce fire-drake, all mindful of feud;
- A fiery meteor, an ignis fatuus, a rocket
- A kind of firework
- (figurative, poetic) A worker at a furnace or fire (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Related terms edit
References edit
- Century Dictionary and Cyclopdia
Further reading edit
HMS Firedrake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - USS Firedrake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
