firedrake

English

Etymology

From Middle English firdrake, from Old English fȳrdraca (“fire-spewing dragon”), equivalent to fire +‎ drake.

Noun

firedrake (plural firedrakes)

  1. 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;
  2. A fiery meteor, an ignis fatuus, a rocket
  3. A kind of firework
  4. (figurative, poetic) A worker at a furnace or fire (Can we add an example for this sense?)

References
  • Century Dictionary and Cyclopdia

Further reading
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