2. A small piece of artillery. [Obs.] Two or three shots, made at them by a couple of drakes, made them stagger. Clarendon.
DRAKE
Drake, n. Etym: [Cf. F. dravik, W. drewg, darnel, cockle, etc.]
Defn: Wild oats, brome grass, or darnel grass; — called also drawk, dravick, and drank. [Prov. Eng.] Dr. Prior.
DRAKESTONE
Drake"stone, n.
Defn: A flat stone so thrown along the surface of water as to skip from point to point before it sinks; also, the sport of so throwing stones; — sometimes called ducks and drakes. Internal earthquakes, that, not content with one throe, run along spasmodically, like boys playing at what is called drakestone. De Quincey.
DRAM Dram, n. Etym: [OF. drame, F. drachme, L. drachma, drachm, drachma, fr. Gr. Drachm, Drachma.]
1. A weight; in Apothecaries' weight, one eighth part of an ounce, or sixty grains; in Avoirdupois weight, one sixteenth part of an ounce, or 27.34375 grains.
2. A minute quantity; a mite. Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as mush the forcible hindrance of evildoing. Milton.
3. As much spirituous liquor as is usually drunk at once; as, a dram of brandy; hence, a potation or potion; as, a dram of poison. Shak.
4. (Numis.)