flapdragon

English edit

flapdragon (countable and uncountable, plural flapdragons)

(obsolete) A game in which the players take raisins out of burning brandy, and swallow them.
- 1600 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Reuels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC:
  From stabbing of armes, Flap-dragons […] and all such swaggering Humors.
Any of the raisins in this game.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
  Thou art easier swallowed then a flapdragon.