DR A 2 



and is most valued. Also, the fine feathery 

 substance by which seeds of plants are 

 conveyed to a distance by the wind, as in 

 the cases of the dandelion and thistle. 

 2. Sax. dun, a hill. Downs are eleva- 

 tions of sand thrown up by the sea, and 

 formed along its coasts, and serving as a 

 barrier. The Downs is a famous roadstead 

 on the coast of Kent. 



DOWN'-HAUL. In a ship, a rope passing 

 up along a stay through the cringles of 

 the stay-sails or jib, and made fast to the 

 upper corner of the sail, to pull it down 

 when shortening sail. The down-haul 

 tackles are a complication of tackles em- 

 ployed to pull down the main or fore- 

 yard in a tempest, in order to reef the sail. 



DRAB'LER. In sloops and schooners, an 

 additional part of a sail sometimes laced 

 to the bottom of a bonnet or square sail. 

 It is the same to a bonnet as a bonnet is 

 to a course. 



DRABS. In salt-works, wooden boxes in 

 which the salt is put when taken out of 

 the pans. 



DRACHM, DRACHMA, $%/&%. 1. An 



ancient Grecian coin value "Jd. 2. The 



eighth part of an ounce : now contracted 

 to dram. 



DRA'CO, fyotxtuv, a dragon. 1. A genus 

 of Saurians belonging to the East Indies. 



2. A constellation of the northern 



hemisphere, representing the monster 

 which watched the garden of the Hes- 



perides. 3. A luminous exhalation 



common in marshy and cold countries : 

 called D. volans. 



The term S?*v generally designated 

 a large serpent. Lucian mentions fly ing - 

 dragons, alluding no doubt to the pre- 

 tended flying serpents treated of by 

 Herodotus. Subsequently dragons are 

 always represented as having wings. 



DRACUN'CULUS, a little dragon. (See 

 DRACO). 1. In botany, a plant, the same as 



Draeontium. 2. A guinea-worm. The 



dracunculi are small wonns which breed 

 in the muscular parts of the arms and 

 legs : common among the natives of 

 Guinea. 



DRAFTS, a game played on a chequered 

 board like the chess-board: hence called 

 a draft-board. 



DRAG, from Sax. dragan, to draw. 1. A 

 machine for dredging docks, cleaning 

 rivers, &c. See DREDGER. 2. An ap- 

 paratus for retarding or stopping the 

 rotation of one or more of the wheels of a 

 wheeled carriage in descending hills, &c. 

 DEIO'ACANTH, DRAGANT-GUM, a gum 

 produced chiefly from the astragalus vents, 

 or goat's horn, a plant common to the 

 north of Persia : more commonly written 

 Tragacunth. 



DRAG'-NET, a net to be drawn on the 

 bottom of a pond or river to take fish. 



3 DR A 



DRAG'OMAN, DROGMAN, an interpreter 

 a term in general use in the Levant. 



DRAG'ON. In zoology, a genus of Saurian 

 reptiles. See also DRACO. 



DRAGON-BEAM. In architecture, a hori- 

 zontal piece of timber on which the raft- 

 ers of a roof pitch. 



DRAG'ON-FLY, a neuropterous insect of 

 a light and graceful figure, beautiful and 

 variegated colours, and large wings, re- 

 sembling lustrous gauze. The name is 

 common to all the species of the Libellu- 

 lae. See LIBELLCLA. 



DRAGONN'ADES (Fr.), the persecutions 

 instituted by Louis XIV. and his succes- 

 sors against the French Protestants. 



DRAG'ON 's BLOOD (sanguis draconis) ; a 

 vegetable balsam of a dark red colour, im- 

 ported in small balls of the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, but sometimes in rods and cakes, 

 from India, Africa, and South America, as 

 the produce of several trees : that in tears 

 from the Dractena draco, that in sticks from 

 the Pterocarpus draco, that in cakes from 

 the fruit of the Calamus draco. The gum 

 is now only used as an ingredient in var- 

 nishes and dentifrices. 



DRAG'ON'S-HEAD AND DRAGON'S -TAIL, 

 terms used in astronomy to denote the 

 nodes of the moon and planets, or the two 

 points in which the ecliptic is intersected 

 by their orbits : more particularly applied 

 to the moon's nodes. It is about these 

 points that all eclipses happen. SeeNoos. 



DRAGOONS. A species of cavalry trained 

 to act either on foot or on horseback aa 

 emergency requires. 



DRAIN'ING TILES, hollow tiles employed 

 in the formation of drains, and often em- 

 ployed in embankments to carry off the 

 water into the side drains. 



DRA'PERY. In sculpture and painting, 

 the representation of the clothing of hu 

 man figures, also tapestry, curtains, &c. 



DRAUGHT (see DRAFT). 1. In mechanics, 

 the power or force required to put any 

 machine in motion, as a coach, horse 

 mill, &c. 2. The depth of water neces- 

 sary to float a vessel. 3. In masonry, 



the chisel-dressing at the angles of stones, 

 aade to guide in levelling the several 

 surfaces. 4. In trade, a small allow- 

 ance on goods sold by weight, made by 

 the wholesale merchant to the buyer, 

 that the weight may hold when the good* 

 are again weighed in retail : called also 

 doff or dough. The same name is given 

 to an allowance made at the custom- 

 house on excisable goods. 



DRACGHT'-COMPASSES, compasses with 

 moveable points, used for drawing the 

 finer lines in mechanical drawings, as 

 plans, &c. 



DRACGHT'-HOOKS, large hooks of iron 

 fixed on the cheeks of a gun-carriage for 

 the convenience of drawing it backwards 

 or forwards. 



