drake

Meaning

Noun

• A male duck.
• A mayfly used as fishing bait.
• A dragon.
• A small piece of artillery.
• A fiery meteor.
• A beaked galley, or Viking warship.

Related

Similar words

• drake fly

Origin

• From Middle English drake ("male duck, drake"), from Old English draca, abbreviated form for Old English *andraca ("male duck, drake"), from Proto-West Germanic *anadrekō ("duck leader"). Cognate with Low German drake, Dutch draak, German Enterich ("drake"). More at ennet.
• 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 ("serpent, giant seafish"), from δέρκομαι, from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ-. Compare Middle Dutch drake and German Drache.