drake - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Mallard drake

From Middle English drake (“male duck, drake”), from Old English *draca, abbreviated form for Old English *andraca (“male duck, drake”, literally “duck-king”), from Proto-West Germanic *anadrekō (“duck leader”). Cognate with Low German drake (“drake”), Dutch draak (“drake”), German Enterich (“drake”). More at annet.

drake (plural drakes)

  1. A male duck (animal).
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 202:
      A drake belonging to a chemist, having drunk water out of a copper vessel which had contained phosphorous, continued its amorous activities until death.

male duck

From Middle English drake (“dragon; Satan”), from Old English draca (“dragon, sea monster, huge serpent”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakō (“dragon”), from Latin dracō (“dragon”), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, giant seafish”), from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see clearly”). Compare Middle Dutch drake and German Drache. Doublet of dragon.

drake (plural drakes)

  1. (poetic) dragon
    • 2016, Anthony Ryan, The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria:
      Clay caught sight of the drake's wing outlined against the rising flames as it swept low over the desert.
      Hyponym: (fantasy) proto-drake
    1. (fantasy, not universal) lesser draconic creature
  2. beaked galley, or Viking warship
    Synonyms: dragon, dragonship
  3. (historical) small piece of artillery
  4. a fiery meteor (variously known as fiery serpents and dragons in many cultures)
    • c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
      The moon’s my constant Mistresse
      & the lowlie owle my morrowe.
      The flaming Drake and yͤ Nightcrowe make
      mee musicke to my sorrowe.
  5. (old) mayfly
    Synonym: drakefly
    Coordinate term: dragonfly
    1. a mayfly used as fishing bait

small dragon

drake

  1. plural of draak

From Old Dutch *drako, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin dracō (“dragon”).

drāke m

  1. dragon, wyrm

Weak masculine noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ------ | ------ | | nominative | drāke | drāken | | accusative | drāke | drāken | | genitive | drāken | drāken | | dative | drāke | drāken |

Inherited from Old English draca, aphetic form of *andraca, from Proto-West Germanic *anadrekō; compare ende (“duck”).

drake (plural drakes)

  1. drake (male duck)

Inherited from Old English draca, from Proto-West Germanic *drakō, from Latin dracō, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn). Doublet of dragoun.

drake (plural drakes or draken)

  1. drake (dragon)
  2. (figuratively) Satan; the Devil.
  3. comet, shooting star

Borrowed from Norwegian Nynorsk drake. See this and the lemma form for more. Unlike most forms with p, t, k recovered for lenited Danish b, d, g, this form was not part of the 1917 standard, but was introduced later under the so-called Samnorsk reforms.

drake m (definite singular draken, indefinite plural draker, definite plural drakene)

  1. alternative form of drage (“dragon, kite”)

Compare Swedish drake, from Old East Norse *draki and Middle Low German drake (compare Old West Norse dreki), from Proto-West Germanic *drakō.

drake m (definite singular draken, indefinite plural drakar, definite plural drakane)

  1. a dragon
  2. a kite
  3. a type of longship decorated with a dragon's head

Inherited from Old East Norse *draki, from Proto-West Germanic *drakō. Known since ca 1300.

drake m

  1. dragon
  2. based on cognates: dragonship, longship

en eldsprutande drake [a fire-breathing [fire-spraying] dragon] (sense 1)

en drake [a kite] (sense 2)

en drake / ett drakskepp [a drake / a dragon ship] (sense 3)

drake [dragon] (sense 4)

From Old Swedish draki, from Old East Norse *draki, from Proto-West Germanic *drakō. Compare Old Norse dreki (West Norse), Middle Low German drake.

drake c

  1. a dragon (mythical creature)
    en eldsprutande drake
    a fire-breathing dragon
    (literally, “a fire-spraying [idiomatic] dragon”)
    Draken sprutade eld på riddaren
    The dragon spewed ["sprayed" – idiomatic] fire on the knight
  2. a kite (toy)
    Barnen flög drake
    The children flew kites [or a kite]
    (literally, “The children flew kite”)
    Barnen flög (med) drakar
    The children flew [(with)] kites
    Nisse flög (med) en drake
    Nisse flew [(with)] a kite
  3. (historical, nautical) a drake, a dragon ship (Viking longship (with a dragon head at the prow))
    Synonym: drakskepp
  4. a dragon (keelboat)
  5. a drake (male duck)
    Synonym: andrake
    • 1887 February 5, “Ankskötsel [Duck Husbandry]”, in Wadstena Läns Tidning, number 14, page 2:
      För att få deras ägg fröade, fodras 1 drake till 2 ankor, eller 2 till 5, och drakarne måste ombytas åtminstone hvartannat år.
      To ensure their eggs are fertilized, one drake is required for two ducks, or two for five, and the drakes must be replaced at least every other year.
  6. a dragon (fierce woman)