snapdragon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a garden plant of the genus Antirrhinum with brightly colored flowers shaped like a dragon's mouth

   Bees moved from one pink snapdragon to the next along the border.

2. 2
   noun

   a traditional game in which players snatch raisins from burning brandy and eat them

   The guests played snapdragon by candlelight during the winter celebration.

From snap and dragon, named for the flower's fancied resemblance to a dragon's face: squeezing its sides makes the corolla open like a mouth. The later game name evokes the quick snapping motion used to seize fruit from flaming brandy.

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