dragon

Less common meanings

5. 5
   sea fishnouncountable

   A sea dragon, one of several animals that resemble the legendary dragon in appearance.

   Divers off southern Australia spotted a leafy sea dragon drifting among the kelp.

   The aquarium's new tank holds two weedy sea dragons collected off the coast of Tasmania.

6. 6
   Chinanounwith the

   China, whether the empire of former times or today's People's Republic.

   Analysts debated whether the Dragon's slowing growth would drag down other Asian markets.

   With China's factories running at full speed, the business papers kept asking whether the Dragon could hold that pace for another decade.

7. 7
   mahjong tilenouncountable

   Any of the mahjong tiles in the class of white, green, and red dragons.

   Holding three white dragons, she declared a pung and laid them face up on the table.

   He discarded the lone red dragon, since no one else seemed to be collecting them.

   Note

   Mahjong counts them as honor tiles: they sit with the winds rather than in the numbered suits, so they can never form a run. Players collect them in matching sets instead, such as a pung of white dragons, and a set of dragons usually adds to the score of a winning hand. At the table each tile goes by its color: a green dragon, a red dragon. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • White, green, and red dragons are honor tiles, grouped with winds rather than the numbered suits. mahjong-ca.org
   • Dragon tiles cannot form a run (chow), which requires sequentially numbered tiles of one suit. mahjong-ca.org
   • Dragons can form matching sets, such as a pung of three white dragons. cmf-mahjong.org
   • A matching set of dragons usually adds to a winning hand's score; Chinese official rules award points for a dragon pung. cmf-mahjong.org
8. 8
   star groupnounwith the

   The constellation Draco, named with the Latin word for dragon.

   Seen from northern Canada, the Dragon never dips below the horizon but circles the pole all night.

   Thuban, a faint star in the Dragon, was the pole star when the pyramids of Egypt were built.

   Note

   Astronomers know the constellation by its Latin name, Draco; in plain English it is the Dragon, used with the and often with a capital, as in a faint star in the Dragon. Old star lore used the word too: in William Shakespeare's King Lear, Edmund says he was conceived under the Dragon's tail, though astrologers gave that name to a point on the moon's path rather than to the constellation. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • The constellation's Latin name is Draco, corresponding to Dragon in English. starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
   • In William Shakespeare's King Lear, Edmund says he was conceived under the Dragon's tail: 'My father compounded with my mother under the Dragon’s tail'. folger.edu
   • The astrological Dragon's tail refers to the descending lunar node, a point on the Moon's path, rather than the constellation Draco. shakespeareswords.com
9. 9
   nounslangcountable

   A male drag performer or cross-dresser, or by extension sometimes a transgender woman.

   Yes. Butt shots. Everybody can't afford lipo and fat transfers. Especially dragons. So if they want to pay me top dollar to pump their ass up that's what I'm gonna do, and you've benefited from it.

   December 2017 Miss Lawrence as Miss Bruce, "Climax" Star episode 21

   Similarqueen

   Note

   The spelling is shared but the word is separate: it was formed from drag queen, so it echoes the fire-breathing beast without descending from it. Inside the drag world it can be affectionate: a performer may call her stage persona the Dragon, so getting out of costume is taking the Dragon off. Used by outsiders, as in police slang lumping drag queens and trans women together, it is dismissive and can be derogatory. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • This sense has a separate etymology, formed from drag queen rather than the legendary creature. en.wiktionary.org
   • A performer has called her drag persona the Dragon and described removing it as taking the Dragon off. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    nounslangderogatoryUKcountable

    A woman regarded as unattractive in appearance.

    Note

    This is rare British slang, and crueler than the "fierce woman" meaning, because it judges a woman on her looks alone.

11. 11
    nounrarecountable

    A computer process that runs in the background, much like a daemon.

    Many of the postmaster functions are actually handled by computer software such as dragons and mailer daemons.

    2018, J. K. Petersen, Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary

    Similardaemon

    Note

    Computing jargon pairs it with daemon, and the line between them is a fine one: in Harley Hahn's The UNIX Companion (1995), a dragon is a daemon that nobody invokes explicitly but that is always there, waiting. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Harley Hahn wrote The UNIX Companion, first published in 1995; his bibliography dates it to October 1995. harley.com
    • Hahn describes a dragon as a daemon that is not explicitly invoked but remains waiting in the background. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    nounobsolete

    A snake of very great size, such as a python.

    Note

    The snake meaning keeps closest to the word's Greek ancestor: drákōn named a serpent of huge size, a python, as well as a dragon, and probably comes from a verb meaning "I see clearly." English took it through Latin and Old French. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Ancient Greek drákōn meant a huge serpent, a python, or a dragon. en.wiktionary.org
    • Drákōn is probably related to the Greek verb dérkomai. en.wiktionary.org
    • Dérkomai can mean “I see clearly”; the entry gives the meaning and identifies this form as first-person singular present indicative. en.wiktionary.org
    • English dragon derives from Greek through Latin and Old French. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    noun

    A musket often hung by a hook from a swivel on a soldier's belt, with a short, large-bore barrel that widens at the muzzle.

    our dragoons were so denominated because they were armed with dragons, that is, with short muskets, which spouted fire like dragons, and had the head of a dragon wrought upon their muzzle

    1886, Charles Gould, Mythical Monsters
14. 14
    noun

    A particular variety of the carrier pigeon.
15. 15
    nounobsolete

    In older accounts, a glowing light over marshy ground that seemed to fly through the air like a winged serpent.