flapdragon

English

Noun

flapdragon (countable and uncountable, plural flapdragons)

1. (obsolete) A game in which the players take raisins out of burning brandy, and swallow them.
   • 1600 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Reuels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC:

     From stabbing of armes, Flap-dragons […] and all such swaggering Humors.

2. Any of the raisins in this game.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Thou art easier swallowed then a flapdragon.

Synonyms

• (game): snapdragon

References

• “flapdragon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.