52 D R A 
To draw any thing burthenfome, any thing from which 
one cannot difengage one’s felf: 
Can I, who lov’d fo well, 
To part with all my blifs to fave my lover, 
Oh! can I drag a wretched life without him ? Smith. 
To draw contemptuoufly along, as a thing unworthy to 
be carried.—He triumphs in St. Auftin’s opinion ; and is 
not only content to drag me at his chariot-wheels, but he 
makes a (hew of me. Stilling fleet. —To pull about with 
violence and ignominy: 
They (hall furprife 
The ferpent, prince of air, and drag in chains 
Thro’ all his realm, and there confounded leave. Milton. 
To pull roughly and forcibly : 
To fall, that’s juftice ; 
But then, to drag him after! For to die 
And yet in death to conquer, is my wifh. Dry den. 
To DRAG, v. n. To hang fo low as to trail or grate 
upon the ground.—A door is faid to drag, when, by its 
ill hanging on its hinges, the bottom edge of the door 
rides in its (weep upon the floor. Moxon. 
From hence are heard the groans of ghofts, the pains 
Of founding ladies, and of dragging chains. Dryden. 
DRAG,yi A net drawn along the bottom of the water: 
Cafting-nets were fpread in fliallow brooks, 
Drags in the deep, and baits were hung on hooks. Dryden. 
An inftrument with hooks to catcli hold of things under 
water.—You may in the morning find it near to foine 
fixed place, and then take it up with a drag- hook, or 
otherwife. Walton. —A kind of car drawn by the hand. 
•—The drag is made fomewhat like a low car: it is ufed 
for the carriage of timber, and then is drawn by the han¬ 
dle by two or more men. Moxon.- —In hulbandry, an im¬ 
plement to break the clods, and tear the ground ; a large 
harrow. A raft to carry any thing down a river; that 
which hangs over a (hip, and prevents her failing. 
DRAGE, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Hol- 
ftein : four miles north of Itzehoa. 
DRAGE, a river of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, which runs into the Netza, fix miles eaft-north- 
eaft of Driefen, in the New Mark of Brandenburg. 
DRA'GEMEL, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Carniola, on the Save : fix miles nortli of Laubach. 
To DRAG'GLE, v. a. To make dirty by dragging on 
the ground : 
You’ll fee a draggled damfel, here and there, 
From Billingfgate her fidiv traffic bear. Gay. 
To DRAG'GLE, v. n. To grow dirty by being drawn 
along the ground: 
His draggling tail hung in the dirt, 
Which on his rider he would flirt. Hudibras. 
DRAG'MA,/. [Gr.] A handful, a gripe. With apo¬ 
thecaries, a handful of herbs. 
DRAG'MIS,y. in pharmacy, as much as may be taken 
up with three fingers. 
DRAG'NET,yi A net which is drawn along the bot¬ 
tom of the water.—Whatfoever old Time, with his huge 
dragnet, has conveyed down to us along the dream of ages, 
whether it be (hells or fhellfidi, jewels or pebbles, flicks 
or draws, feaweeds or mud, thefe are the ancients, thefe 
are the fathers. Watts. 
Dragnets were made to fifh within the deep, 
And cafting-nets did rivers bottoms fweep. May. 
DRA'GOMAN, a town of European Turkey, in the 
province of Bulgaria: twenty-two miles weft-north-weft 
of Sofia. 
DRA'GOMAN, or Drogman,/ A term in the Eaft 
for an interpreter, whofe office is to facilitate commerce 
between the natives and foreigners. 
D R A 
DRAGOMES'TRO, a town of European Turkey, in 
Livadia ; taken by the Venetians in 1684, but abandoned ■ 
foon after : forty-four miles weft-north-weft of Lepanto. 
DRAGOMIR'NA, a town of European Turkey, in 
Moldavia : eight miles north of Suczava. 
DRA'GON, J'. [draco, Lat. of tyar.vy, Gr.} A reptile 
of the lizard kind, furniflied with wings like a bat. See 
the article Draco. An imaginary and terrific monfter, 
much celebrated in the romances of remote ages; and 
ufed fymbolically in many paflages of the holy feriptures, 
wherein it is frequently applied to defignate the maligni¬ 
ty of Satan, the fpiritual enemy of man, and to convey 
to the mind an idea of the monftrous (hapes and deplora¬ 
ble condition of the fallen angels, as a punilhment for 
their rebellionagainft God. Notions of the real exiftenceof 
wide-wafting animals of this defeription, with wings, and 
feales, and forked tongues, alfo breathing fire and fmoke, 
have too long embarralfed the apprehenfions of weak 
minds, and uninformed readers. A late writer, therefore, 
inveftigating the various accounts we have of the dragon,, 
with a view to remove thefe vague and fuperftitious im.- 
preflions, is led to believe that he has difeovered the ori¬ 
gin of this feigned monfter, among the hieroglyphics of 
ancient Egypt. “ Before the Egyptians were become ac¬ 
quainted with the exadt time of tire periodical overflow¬ 
ing of the Nile, they frequently found their harvefts de- 
ftroyed by the then unlooked-for inundation. They there¬ 
fore regarded that river as the enemy of agriculture or 
hufbandry. Agriculture or lrulbandry was fymbolized 
as a child, the fon of Ofiris. and Ifis, or the fun and 
earth ; and, thus perfonified, was denominated Horus. 
The Nile was charadlerized by a crocodile, &c. The 
character of a crocodile was hence confidered as the fym- 
bol of any enemy. In commemorating the general de¬ 
luge, they alfb fymbolized that event by a water-monfter 
killing Ofiris, or the fun. Hence the water-monfter, the 
crocodile, or dragon, became the reprefentation of the 
enemy of the fun. The fun the Egyptians confounded 
with Ham, and Ham they confounded with the Almigh¬ 
ty : hence thofe figns became indicative of the enemy of 
the Almighty, or of the evil principle, or the devil. Mo. 
fes, we are told, was learned in all the wifdom of the 
Egyptians ; and almoft every page of the pentateuch re¬ 
minds us of the idolatry of the Ifraelites. And mention 
is exprefsly made by the prophet Amos, v. 25, 26, and 
from him by St..Stephen, Ails ii. 43, 47'. of the images, 
the types, or fymbols, which they brought out of Egypt. 
The convertible ufe of the terms, Ob, Peten, Python, Ty- 
phon, &e. £0 often made, both by the (acred and prophane 
writers, corroborates this idea-. The words Satan and 
devil (AiaCoA©-) alfo fignifying an enemy, accufer, or 
adverfary, and fo frequently occurring in the feriptures, 
and which are applied even to men, 2 Sam . xix. 22; and 
John vi. 7 ; 2 Tim.Hi. 3, &c. add ftrength to the conjecture. 
“ The crocodile was peculiarly deferiptiveof the Nile; 
and was, therefore, more generally and longer adopted 
as the reprefentative of that river, the original foe. The 
emblem of the winds was, a bird ; or, in compound fym¬ 
bols, the wings of one. When the Egyptians had at 
length afeertained the annual inundation of the Nile, they 
exhibited to the public view, the fymbol of a crocodile 
With wings upon his back, in order to indicate to the peo¬ 
ple, that the Etefian winds had fet in, and that, in con¬ 
sequence, the Nile was about to overflow. The croco¬ 
dile with wings, ftrongly agrees with the reprefentation 
of the dragon ; and the crocodile is evidently the tannim, 
the leviathan, &c. of the feriptures. The name of the 
leviathan has allufion to its feales: now the whale (as the 
word is frequently rendered) has no feales ; but the feales 
of the crocodile are proverbial. “A flame goeth out of his 
mouth,” fays'Job, The crocodile, from long repreffion 
of breath in the water, is remarked by naturalifts, as 
emitting it fo as to refemble fmoke : and is not the dragon 
of romance reprefented as belching out fire ? The tan. 
jiim 
