wyvern

Definition

A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.

Etymology

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.

Example Sentences

• "The jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons."
• "Notions of freedom are tied up in drink / Our ideal life contains a tavern / Where man may sit and talk of or just think / All without fear of the nighted wyvern, / Or yet another tavern where it appears."
• "Above the shield was the well-known Midland crest of a legless wyvern (a wyvern normally has two legs)."

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