dragonfly

• dragon-fly

From dragon +‎ fly. Compare drakefly (“mayfly”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹæɡənˌflaɪ/

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dragonfly (plural dragonflies)

2. An insect of the suborder Epiprocta or, more strictly, the infraorder Anisoptera, having four long transparent wings held perpendicular to a long body when perched.

   Coordinate term: drakefly

   There were two dragonflies in the garden today.

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum:

     The delicate coloured Dragon Flies may have likewise some Corrosive quality.

   • 1897, Thomas Wright, The Acid Sisters: And Other Poems, page 93:

     The sapphire needled dragonflies
     That flirt with the crested newt!
     And now before his newtly nose, […]

   • 2013 April 1, Natalie Angier, “Nature’s Drone, Pretty and Deadly”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Stacey Combes, who studies the biomechanics of dragonfly flight at Harvard, once watched a laboratory dragonfly eat 30 flies in a row.

   • 2016 June 11, Lizette Alvarez, “In a Corner of the Everglades, a Way of Life Ebbs”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     As the airboat skimmed across the shallow water, scattering blue dragonflies and launching a heron into the air, Keith Price squinted into the sun and relished the isolation of Florida’s unrivaled river of grass.