Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DRAG'ON, n. [L. draco; Gr. δρακων; It. dragone; Fr. dragon; D. draak; G. drache; Ir. draic or draig; W. draig; Sw. drake; Dan. drage. The origin of this word is not obvious. In Ir. drag is fire; in W. dragon is a leader, chief or sovereign, from dragiaw, to draw. In Scotch, the word signifies a paper kite, as also in Danish; probably from the notion of flying or shooting along, like a fiery meteor. In Welsh, draig is rendered by Owen a procreator or generating principle, a fiery serpent, a dragon, and the Supreme; and the plural dreigiau, silent lightnings, dreigiaw, to lighten silently. Hence I infer that the word originally signified a shooting meteor in the atmosphere, a fiery meteor, and hence a fiery or flying serpent, from a root which signified to shoot or draw out.]

1. A kind of winged serpent, much celebrated in the romances of the middle ages. – Johnson.
2. A fiery, shooting meteor, or imaginary serpent. Swift, swift, ye dragons of the night! that dawning / May bear the raven's eye. – Shak.
3. A fierce, violent person, male or female; as, this man or woman is a dragon.
4. A constellation of the northern hemisphere. [See Draco.] In Scripture, dragon seems sometimes to signify a large marine fish or serpent, Is. xxvii, where the leviathan is also mentioned; also Ps. lxxiv. Sometimes it seems to signify a venomous land serpent. Ps. xci. The dragon shalt thou trample under foot. It is often used for the devil, who is called the old serpent. – Rev. xx, 2.