"However much this dragon tries to be spatial, he remains completely flat. Two incisions are made in the paper on which he is printed. then it is folded in such a way as to leave two square openings. But this dragon is an obstinate beast, and in spite of his two dimensions he persists in assuming that he has three; so he sticks his head through one of the holes and his tail through the other."
You can see this engraving (known in its original Dutch as Draak) by searching Google Images for "Escher"+"Dragon". I once provided URLs, but they expire; this technique should remain effective for quite some time.
dragon n.
[MIT] A program similar to a daemon, except that it is not invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to perform various secondary tasks. A typical example would be an accounting program, which keeps track of who is logged in, accumulates load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many terminals displayed a list of people logged in, where they were, what they were running, etc., along with some random picture (such as a unicorn, Snoopy, or the Enterprise), which was generated by the `name dragon'. Usage: rare outside MIT -- under Unix and most other OSes this would be called a `background demon' or daemon. The best-known Unix example of a dragon is cron(1). At SAIL, they called this sort of thing a `phantom'.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.
........ ....oo.. .....oo. ......o. ...oooo. ..oo.... ........
Of course, a dragon won't occur all alone on the goban (board). Rather, it will occur in the presence of other stones, especially the opponent's. Although the dragon has no eyes and isn't technically "alive," there is a Go proverb that says that "Big dragons never die." That's because a dragon tends to have a lot of liberty, so it's hard to get it completely surrounded. In other words, if you think you've killed a big dragon (and probably won the game because of it), always read the situation out very carefully to be sure that you've killed it, because they have sneaky ways of escaping.
The steps of the maneuover are:
A further note; care should be taken that the sword-elbow does not jut out; otherwise it is easy to hit.
Dragons. You've heard of them. They're mythical animals that look like a cross between a lizard and my Art teacher. But whatever.
Dragons are quite possibly one of the most famous mythical beasts, next to the cutesy unicorns and faeries and elves and that. But you do see dragon statues in many gift shops. Heck, I have one myself.
The idea for dragons was probably created in China. Chinese dragons are more reptilian than your commercial European dragon. According to legend, they were made up of many different animals put together.
They have the eyes of a hare, the head of a camel, horns of a deer, ears of a bull, neck of an iguana, the belly of a frog, scales of a carp, tiger paws, eagle claws, tail of a serpent and a partridge in a pear tree. (Kidding)
And that's just the female.
In Chinese mythology, dragons could bring rain, breathe flames and were used to guard treasure.
Even Ancient Egypt had its own dragonlore. Though there is very little information available today, it is thought that they were associated with the brothers Osiris and Seth.
In Europe, dragons had a more fearsome story. The famous Greek dragon Draco was a fighter for the Titans and was cast into the sky as a constellation. There is also the popular Christian story of Saint George and the dragon.
The European dragon seems to get the short end of the stick in most stories. You have your basic dragon fairytale when dragon kidnaps maiden, knight kills dragon, maiden gets rescued. Supposedly a happy ending, however the poor old dragon ends up on the end of some twat's spear.
Mind you, there are people who are fascinated with the legendary strength of dragons. Many sports teams call themselves the Dragons. It's probably useful for intimidating the opposition.
Many books about dragons (factual and fictional) exist today. Some examples are Dragonlinks, The Fire Within, Dragonology and Icefire. (Yes, that's the reason for my name.)
Whatever you believe about dragons, I hope you enjoyed this fact smorgasboard.
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. Zool.
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. Zool.
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 Arisaema, a genus of plants having a spathe and spadix. See Dragon root(below). -- Dragon fish Zool., the dragonet. -- Dragon fly Zool., any insect of the family Libellulidae. They have finely formed, large and strongly reticulated wings, a large head with enormous eyes, and a long body; -- called also mosquito hawks. Their larvae are aquatic and insectivorous. -- Dragon root Bot., an American aroid plant (Arisaema 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 Dracaena 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 Graecorum. -- 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 Zool., 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 (Dracaena Draco), yielding one of the resins called dragon's blood. See Dracaena. -- 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.
© Webster 1913.
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