| 翻訳と辞書 |
Snap-dragon (game)
Snap-dragon (also known as Flap-dragon, Snapdragon, or Flapdragon) was a parlour game popular from about the 16th to 19th centuries. It was played during the winter, particularly on Christmas Eve. Brandy was heated and placed in a wide shallow bowl; raisins were placed in the brandy which was then set alight. Typically, lights were extinguished or dimmed to increase the eerie effect of the blue flames playing across the liquor. The aim of the game was to pluck the raisins out of the burning brandy and eat them, at the risk of being burnt. Samuel Johnson's ''Dictionary of the English Language'' (1755) describes it as "a play in which they catch raisins out of burning brandy and, extinguishing them by closing the mouth, eat them". According to an eighteenth-century article in Richard Steele's ''Tatler'' magazine, "the wantonness of the thing was to see each other look like a demon, as we burnt ourselves, and snatched out the fruit." Snap-dragon was played in England, Canada, and the United States, but there is insufficient evidence of the practice in Scotland, or other countries. In some families, this tradition continues to be practiced and enjoyed even into the 21st Century.
==Meanings==
The words ''snap-dragon'' and ''flap-dragon'' can refer to the game, the raisins used in the game, or the bowl with brandy and raisins. Other senses of ''flap-dragon'' are that of something worthless or trivial, as in "A Flap-dragon for your service, Sir!" from William Congreve's ''The Way of the World'', and "a contemptuous term for a Dutchman or German". In ''The Winter's Tale'', Shakespeare used it as a verb, to describe a moment when a ship at sea is instantly swallowed up by a storm.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Snap-dragon (game)」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|