firedrake

English

Alternative forms

• fire-drake, fire drake

Etymology

Compound of fire +‎ drake, from Middle English firdrake, from Old English fȳrdraca (“fire-spewing dragon”). Piecewise doublet of firedragon.

Noun

firedrake (plural firedrakes)

1. A fire-breathing dragon, or otherwise fiery dragon.

   Synonym: firedragon

   • 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.

   Synonyms: firedragon, drake

3. A kind of firework.
4. (figurative, poetic) A worker at a furnace or fire. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Related terms

• earthdrake
• seadrake

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895), “firedrake, n.”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 2229, column 1.

Further reading

• HMS Firedrake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• USS Firedrake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia