dragon's tail
[See dragon 8 b.]
1. Astron. The descending node of the moon's orbit with the ecliptic (marked {descnode}).
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. ii. 140 My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my Natiuity was vnder Vrsa Maior. 1786–7 Bonnycastle Astron. 420. 1819 J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. |
b. Her. The name of the tincture murrey or sanguine, in blazoning by the heavenly bodies.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Dragons-tail..signifies the Murrey Colour in the Coats of Soveraign Princes. 1766 Porny Heraldry Gloss. |
2. Palmistry. The discriminal line.
| 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Restrict Line (in Chiromancy)..is otherwise called the Discriminal line, and also the Dragons tail. 1842 Brande Dict. Sc., etc. s.v. Chiromancy, The dragon's tail, or discriminal line, between the hand and arm. |