Chapter 57

||Dra*cæ"na (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; she-dragon.] (Bot.) A genus of liliaceous plants with woody stems and funnel-shaped flowers.

Dracæna Draco, the source of the dragon's blood of the Canaries, forms a tree, sometimes of gigantic size.

Dra"canth (?), n. A kind of gum; - - called also gum tragacanth, or tragacanth. See Tragacanth.

Drachm (?), n. [See Drachma.] 1. A drachma.

2. Same as Dram.

||Drach"ma (?), n.; pl. E. Drachmas (#), L. Drachmæ (#). [L., fr. Gr. &?;. See Dram.] 1. A silver coin among the ancient Greeks, having a different value in different States and at different periods. The average value of the Attic drachma is computed to have been about 19 cents.

2. A gold and silver coin of modern Greece worth 19.3 cents.

3. Among the ancient Greeks, a weight of about 66.5 grains; among the modern Greeks, a weight equal to a gram.

||Drach"me (?), n. [F.] See Drachma.

Dra"cin (?), n. [Cf. F. dracine.] (Chem.) See Draconin.

||Dra"co (?), n. [L. See Dragon.] 1. (Astron.) The Dragon, a northern constellation within which is the north pole of the ecliptic.

2. A luminous exhalation from marshy grounds.

3. (Zoöl.) A genus of lizards. See Dragon, 6.

Dra*co"ni*an (?), a. Pertaining to Draco, a famous lawgiver of Athens, 621 b. c.

Draconian code, or Draconian laws, a code of laws made by Draco. Their measures were so severe that they were said to be written in letters of blood; hence, any laws of excessive rigor.

Dra*con"ic (?), a. Relating to Draco, the Athenian lawgiver; or to the constellation Draco; or to dragon's blood.

Dra*co"nin (?), n. [Cf. F. draconine. See Draco.] (Chem.) A red resin forming the essential basis of dragon's blood; -- called also dracin.

Dra*con"tic (?), a. [From L. draco dragon, in allusion to the terms dragon's head and dragon's tail.] (Astron.) Belonging to that space of time in which the moon performs one revolution, from ascending node to ascending node. See Dragon's head, under Dragon. [Obs.] "Dracontic month." Crabb.

Dra*con"tine (?), a. [L. draco dragon.] Belonging to a dragon. Southey.

||Dra*cun"cu*lus (?), n.; pl. Dracunculi (#). [L., dim. of draco dragon.] (Zoöl.) (a) A fish; the dragonet. (b) The Guinea worm (Filaria medinensis).

Drad (?), p. p. & a. Dreaded. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Drad"de (?), imp. of Dread. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Dradge (?), n. (Min.) Inferior ore, separated from the better by cobbing. Raymond.

Draff (drf), n. [Cf. D. draf the sediment of ale, Icel. draf draff, husks. Cf. 1st Drab.] Refuse; lees; dregs; the wash given to swine or cows; hogwash; waste matter.

Prodigals lately come from swine keeping, from eating draff and husks.

Shak.

The draff and offal of a bygone age.

Buckle.

Mere chaff and draff, much better burnt.

Tennyson.

Draff"ish, a. Worthless; draffy. Bale.

Draff"y (?), a. Dreggy; waste; worthless.

The dregs and draffy part.

Beau. & Fl.

Draft (drft), n. [The same word as draught. OE. draught, draht, fr. AS. dragan to draw. See Draw, and cf. Draught.] 1. The act of drawing; also, the thing drawn. Same as Draught.

Everything available for draft burden.

S. G. Goodrich.

2. (Mil.) A selecting or detaching of soldiers from an army, or from any part of it, or from a military post; also from any district, or any company or collection of persons, or from the people at large; also, the body of men thus drafted.

Several of the States had supplied the deficiency by drafts to serve for the year.

Marshall.

3. An order from one person or party to another, directing the payment of money; a bill of exchange.

I thought it most prudent to defer the drafts till advice was received of the progress of the loan.

A. Hamilton.

4. An allowance or deduction made from the gross weight of goods. Simmonds.

5. A drawing of lines for a plan; a plan delineated, or drawn in outline; a delineation. See Draught.

6. The form of any writing as first drawn up; the first rough sketch of written composition, to be filled in, or completed. See Draught.

7. (Masonry) (a) A narrow border left on a finished stone, worked differently from the rest of its face. (b) A narrow border worked to a plane surface along the edge of a stone, or across its face, as a guide to the stone-cutter.

8. (Milling) The slant given to the furrows in the dress of a millstone.

9. (Naut.) Depth of water necessary to float a ship; the depth below the water surface to which the bottom of a ship sinks when bearing a specific load. See Draught.

10. A current of air. Same as Draught.

Draft, a. 1. Pertaining to, or used for, drawing or pulling (as vehicles, loads, etc.). Same as Draught.

2. Relating to, or characterized by, a draft, or current of air. Same as Draught.

The forms draft and draught, in the senses above-given, are both in approved use.

Draft box, Draft engine, Draft horse, Draft net, Draft ox, Draft tube. Same as Draught box, Draught engine, etc. See under Draught.

Draft (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Drafting.] 1. To draw the outline of; to delineate.

2. To compose and write; as, to draft a memorial.

3. To draw from a military band or post, or from any district, company, or society; to detach; to select.

Some royal seminary in Upper Egypt, from whence they drafted novices to supply their colleges and temples.

Holwell.

4. To transfer by draft.

All her rents been drafted to London.

Fielding.

Drafts"man (?), n. See Draughtsman.

Drag (?), n. [See 3d Dredge.] A confection; a comfit; a drug. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Drag, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dragged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dragging (?).] [OE. draggen; akin to Sw. dragga to search with a grapnel, fr. dragg grapnel, fr. draga to draw, the same word as E. draw. &?; See Draw.] 1. To draw slowly or heavily onward; to pull along the ground by main force; to haul; to trail; -- applied to drawing heavy or resisting bodies or those inapt for drawing, with labor, along the ground or other surface; as, to drag stone or timber; to drag a net in fishing.

Dragged by the cords which through his feet were thrust.

Denham.

The grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.

Tennyson.

A needless Alexandrine ends the song That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

Pope.

2. To break, as land, by drawing a drag or harrow over it; to harrow; to draw a drag along the bottom of, as a stream or other water; hence, to search, as by means of a drag.

Then while I dragged my brains for such a song.

Tennyson.

3. To draw along, as something burdensome; hence, to pass in pain or with difficulty.

Have dragged a lingering life.

Dryden.

To drag an anchor (Naut.), to trail it along the bottom when the anchor will not hold the ship.

Syn. -- See Draw.

Drag, v. i. 1. To be drawn along, as a rope or dress, on the ground; to trail; to be moved onward along the ground, or along the bottom of the sea, as an anchor that does not hold.

2. To move onward heavily, laboriously, or slowly; to advance with weary effort; to go on lingeringly.

The day drags through, though storms keep out the sun.

Byron.

Long, open panegyric drags at best.

Gay.

3. To serve as a clog or hindrance; to hold back.

A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her.

Russell.

4. To fish with a dragnet.

Drag, n. [See Drag, v. t., and cf. Dray a cart, and 1st Dredge.] 1. The act of dragging; anything which is dragged.

2. A net, or an apparatus, to be drawn along the bottom under water, as in fishing, searching for drowned persons, etc.

3. A kind of sledge for conveying heavy bodies; also, a kind of low car or handcart; as, a stone drag.

4. A heavy coach with seats on top; also, a heavy carriage. [Collog.] Thackeray.

5. A heavy harrow, for breaking up ground.

6. (a) Anything towed in the water to retard a ship's progress, or to keep her head up to the wind; esp., a canvas bag with a hooped mouth, so used. See Drag sail (below). (b) Also, a skid or shoe, for retarding the motion of a carriage wheel. (c) Hence, anything that retards; a clog; an obstacle to progress or enjoyment.

My lectures were only a pleasure to me, and no drag.

J. D. Forbes.

7. Motion affected with slowness and difficulty, as if clogged. "Had a drag in his walk." Hazlitt.

8. (Founding) The bottom part of a flask or mold, the upper part being the cope.

9. (Masonry) A steel instrument for completing the dressing of soft stone.

10. (Marine Engin.) The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3.

Drag sail (Naut.), a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel through the water in order to keep her head to the wind or to prevent drifting; -- called also drift sail, drag sheet, drag anchor, sea anchor, floating anchor, etc. -- Drag twist (Mining), a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.

Dra*gan"tine (?), n. [See Dracanth.] A mucilage obtained from, or containing, gum tragacanth.

Drag"bar` (?), n. Same as Drawbar (b). Called also draglink, and drawlink. [U. S.]

Drag"bolt` (?), n. A coupling pin. See under Coupling. [U. S.]

||Dra`gées" (?), n. pl. [F. See 3d Dredge.] (Pharmacy) Sugar-coated medicines.

Drag"gle (drg"g'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Draggled (-g'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Draggling (-glng).] [Freq. of drag. √73. Cf. Drawl.] To wet and soil by dragging on the ground, mud, or wet grass; to drabble; to trail. Gray.

With draggled nets down-hanging to the tide.

Trench.

Drag"gle, v. i. To be dragged on the ground; to become wet or dirty by being dragged or trailed in the mud or wet grass. Hudibras.

Drag"gle-tail` (?), n. A slattern who suffers her gown to trail in the mire; a drabble-tail.

Drag"gle-tailed` (?), a. Untidy; sluttish; slatternly. W. Irving.

Drag"link` (?), n. (Mach.) (a) A link connecting the cranks of two shafts. (b) A drawbar.

Drag"man (?), n.; pl. Dragmen (&?;). A fisherman who uses a dragnet. Sir M. Hale.

Drag"net` (?), n. [Cf. AS. drægnet.] A net to be drawn along the bottom of a body of water, as in fishing.

Drag"o*man (?), n.; pl. Dragomans (#). [From F. dragoman, or Sp. dragoman, or It. dragomanno; all fr. LGr. &?;, Ar. tarjumn, from the same source as E. targum. Cf. Drogman, Truchman.] An interpreter; -- so called in the Levant and other parts of the East.

Drag"on (?), n. [F. dragon, L. draco, fr. Gr. &?;, prob. fr. &?;, &?;, to look (akin to Skr. dar&?; to see), and so called from its terrible eyes. Cf. Drake a dragon, Dragoon.] 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.

Fairholt.

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.

Ps. lxxiv. 13.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Ps. xci. 13.

He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

Rev. xx. 2.

2. A fierce, violent person, esp. a woman. Johnson.

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. Fairholt.

6. (Zoöl.) 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. (Zoöl.) A variety of carrier pigeon.

8. (Her.) A fabulous winged creature, sometimes borne as a charge in a coat of arms.

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 Arisæma, a genus of plants having a spathe and spadix. See Dragon root(below). -- Dragon fish (Zoöl.), the dragonet. -- Dragon fly (Zoöl.), any insect of the family Libellulidæ. They have finely formed, large and strongly reticulated wings, a large head with enormous eyes, and a long body; -- called also mosquito hawks. Their larvæ are aquatic and insectivorous. -- Dragon root (Bot.), an American aroid plant (Arisæma Dracontium); green dragon. -- Dragon's blood, a resinous substance obtained from the fruit of several species of Calamus, esp. from C. Rotang and C. Draco, growing in the East Indies. A substance known as dragon's blood is obtained by exudation from Dracæna 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 Græcorum. -- 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, indicated, chiefly in almanacs, by the symbol &?;. 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. Encyc. Brit. - - Dragon shell (Zoöl.), 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. Stormonth. -- Dragon's tail (Astron.), the descending node of a planet, indicated by the symbol &?;. See Dragon's head (above). -- Dragon's wort (Bot.), a plant of the genus Artemisia (A. dracunculus). -- Dragon tree (Bot.), a West African liliaceous tree (Dracæna Draco), yielding one of the resins called dragon's blood. See Dracæna. -- Dragon water, a medicinal remedy very popular in the earlier half of the 17th century. "Dragon water may do good upon him." Randolph (1640). -- Flying dragon, a large meteoric fireball; a bolide.

Drag"on*et (?), n. 1. A little dragon. Spenser.

2. (Zoöl.) A small British marine fish (Callionymuslyra); -- called also yellow sculpin, fox, and gowdie.

Drag"on*ish, a. resembling a dragon. Shak.

Drag"on*like` (-lk`), a. Like a dragon. Shak.

<! p. 451 !>

Drag`on*nade" (drg`n*nd"), n. [F., fr. dragon dragoon, because Louis XIV., in persecuting the Protestants of his kingdom, quartered dragoons upon them.] The severe persecution of French Protestants under Louis XIV., by an armed force, usually of dragoons; hence, a rapid and devastating incursion; dragoonade.

He learnt it as he watched the dragonnades, the tortures, the massacres of the Netherlands.

C. Kingsley.

{ Drag"on's blood, Drag"on's head, Drag"on's tail }. See Dragon's blood, Dragon's head, etc., under Dragon.

Dra*goon" (dr*gn"), n. [F. dragon dragon, dragoon, fr. L. draco dragon, also, a cohort's standard (with a dragon on it). The name was given from the sense standard. See Dragon.] 1. ((Mil.) Formerly, a soldier who was taught and armed to serve either on horseback or on foot; now, a mounted soldier; a cavalry man.

2. A variety of pigeon. Clarke.

Dragoon bird (Zoöl.), the umbrella bird.

Dra*goon", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dragooned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dragooning.] 1. To harass or reduce to subjection by dragoons; to persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of soldiers.

2. To compel submission by violent measures; to harass; to persecute.

The colonies may be influenced to anything, but they can be dragooned to nothing.

Price.

Lewis the Fourteenth is justly censured for trying to dragoon his subjects to heaven.

Macaulay.

Drag`oon*ade" (?), n. See Dragonnade.

Dra*goon"er (?), n. A dragoon. [Obs.]

Drail (drl), v. t. & i. [&radic;73.] To trail; to draggle. [Obs.] South.

Drain (drn), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drained (drnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Draining.] [AS. drehnigean to drain, strain; perh. akin to E. draw.] 1. To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to cause the exhaustion of.

Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent.

Bacon.

But it was not alone that the he drained their treasure and hampered their industry.

Motley.

2. To exhaust of liquid contents by drawing them off; to make gradually dry or empty; to remove surface water, as from streets, by gutters, etc.; to deprive of moisture; hence, to exhaust; to empty of wealth, resources, or the like; as, to drain a country of its specie.

Sinking waters, the firm land to drain, Filled the capacious deep and formed the main.

Roscommon.

3. To filter.

Salt water, drained through twenty vessels of earth, hath become fresh.

Bacon.

Drain, v. i. 1. To flow gradually; as, the water of low ground drains off.

2. To become emptied of liquor by flowing or dropping; as, let the vessel stand and drain.

Drain, n. 1. The act of draining, or of drawing off; gradual and continuous outflow or withdrawal; as, the drain of specie from a country.

2. That means of which anything is drained; a channel; a trench; a water course; a sewer; a sink.

3. pl. The grain from the mashing tub; as, brewers' drains. [Eng.] Halliwell.

Box drain, Counter drain. See under Box, Counter. -- Right of drain (Law), an easement or servitude by which one man has a right to convey water in pipes through or over the estate of another. Kent.

Drain"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being drained.

Drain"age (?), n. 1. A draining; a gradual flowing off of any liquid; also, that which flows out of a drain.

2. The mode in which the waters of a country pass off by its streams and rivers.

3. (Engin.) The system of drains and their operation, by which superfluous water is removed from towns, railway beds, mines, and other works.

4. Area or district drained; as, the drainage of the Po, the Thames, etc. Latham.

5. (Surg.) The act, process, or means of drawing off the pus or fluids from a wound, abscess, etc.

Drainage tube (Surg.), a tube introduced into a wound, etc., to draw off the discharges.

||Draine (?), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) The missel thrush.

Drain"er (?), n. One who, or that which, drains.

Drain"ing, vb. n. of Drain, v. t. (Agric.) The art of carrying off surplus water, as from land.

Draining tile. Same as Draintile.

Drain"pipe` (?), n. A pipe used for carrying off surplus water.

Drain"tile` (?), n. A hollow tile used in making drains; -- called also draining tile.

Drain"trap` (?), n. See 4th Trap, 5.

Drake (drk), n. [Akin to LG. drake, OHG. antrache, anetrecho, G. enterich, Icel. andriki, Dan. andrik, OSw. andrak, andrage, masc., and fr. AS. ened, fem., duck; akin to D. eend, G. ente, Icel. önd, Dan. and, Sw. and, Lith. antis, L. anas, Gr. &?; (for &?;), and perh. Skr. ti a water fowl. &radic;207. In English the first part of the word was lost. The ending is akin to E. rich. Cf. Gulaund.] 1. The male of the duck kind.

2. [Cf. Dragon fly, under Dragon.] The drake fly.

The drake will mount steeple height into the air.

Walton.

Drake fly, a kind of fly, sometimes used in angling.

The dark drake fly, good in August.

Walton.

Drake, n. [AS. draca dragon, L. draco. See Dragon.] 1. A dragon. [Obs.]

Beowulf resolves to kill the drake.

J. A. Harrison (Beowulf).

2. A small piece of artillery. [Obs.]

Two or three shots, made at them by a couple of drakes, made them stagger.

Clarendon.

Drake, n. [Cf. F. dravik, W. drewg, darnel, cockle, etc.] Wild oats, brome grass, or darnel grass; -- called also drawk, dravick, and drank. [Prov. Eng.] Dr. Prior.

Drake"stone (?), n. A flat stone so thrown along the surface of water as to skip from point to point before it sinks; also, the sport of so throwing stones; -- sometimes called ducks and drakes.

Internal earthquakes, that, not content with one throe, run along spasmodically, like boys playing at what is called drakestone.

De Quincey.

Dram (drm), n. [OF. drame, F. drachme, L. drachma, drachm, drachma, fr. Gr. drachmh`, prop., a handful, fr. dra`ssesqai to grasp. Cf. Drachm, Drachma.] 1. A weight; in Apothecaries' weight, one eighth part of an ounce, or sixty grains; in Avoirdupois weight, one sixteenth part of an ounce, or 27.34375 grains.

2. A minute quantity; a mite.

Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as mush the forcible hindrance of evildoing.

Milton.

3. As much spirituous liquor as is usually drunk at once; as, a dram of brandy; hence, a potation or potion; as, a dram of poison. Shak.

4. (Numis.) A Persian daric. Ezra ii. 69.

Fluid dram, or Fluid drachm. See under Fluid.

Dram, v. i. & t. To drink drams; to ply with drams. [Low] Johnson. Thackeray.

Dra"ma (drä"m or dr"m; 277), n. [L. drama, Gr. dra^ma, fr. dra^n to do, act; cf. Lith. daryti.] 1. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage.

A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.

Milton.

2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest. "The drama of war." Thackeray.

Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last.

Berkeley.

The drama and contrivances of God's providence.

Sharp.

3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature.

The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, melodrama, operas, burlettas, and farces.

The romantic drama, the kind of drama whose aim is to present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories told in dialogue by actors on the stage. J. A. Symonds.

{ Dra*mat"ic (?), Dra*mat"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?;: cf. F. dramatique.] Of or pertaining to the drama; appropriate to, or having the qualities of, a drama; theatrical; vivid.

The emperor . . . performed his part with much dramatic effect.

Motley.

Dra*mat"ic*al*ly, adv. In a dramatic manner; theatrically; vividly.

||Dram"a*tis per*so"næ (?). [L.] The actors in a drama or play.

Dram"a*tist (?), n. [Cf. F. dramatiste.] The author of a dramatic composition; a writer of plays.

Dram"a*ti`za*ble (?), a. Capable of being dramatized.

Dram`a*ti*za"tion (?), n. Act of dramatizing.

Dram"a*tize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dramatized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dramatizing (?).] [Cf. F. dramatiser.] To compose in the form of the drama; to represent in a drama; to adapt to dramatic representation; as, to dramatize a novel, or an historical episode.

They dramatized tyranny for public execration.

Motley.

Dram`a*tur"gic (?), a. Relating to dramaturgy.

Dram"a*tur`gist (?), n. One versed in dramaturgy. Carlyle.

Dram"a*tur`gy (?), n. [Gr. &?; dramatic composition; &?; drama + a root akin to E. work: cf. F. dramaturgie.] The art of dramatic composition and representation.

Dram"ming (?), n. The practice of drinking drams.

Dram"sell`er (?), n. One who sells distilled liquors by the dram or glass.

Dram"shop` (?), n. A shop or barroom where spirits are sold by the dram.

Drank (?), imp. of Drink.