reluctant dragon

English

Etymology

In reference to The Reluctant Dragon, an 1898 children's story by Kenneth Grahame about a shy dragon with no desire to fight people, adapted into a Walt Disney animated film in 1941.

Noun

reluctant dragon (plural reluctant dragons)

1. (colloquial) A reluctant person; somebody unwilling to get involved.
   • 1979, A History of Cancer Control in the United States, 1946-1971:

     ENDICOTT: I think probably one of the promotive things we did was to finally convince Luther Terry that he had to do something about smoking and health. He certainly was a reluctant dragon, for a long time.

   • 1990, Eric Barnouw, Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television:

     […] Dodd seemed a “reluctant dragon.” No report on his violence probe was ever published. An interim report was mimeographed in a watered-down version for subcommittee members, but never released to the public.

   • 2007, Alan Farrell, High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans, page 311:

     Cage, a barrel-chested, tattooed (and how!) loner, finds himself dragooned into national service, a reluctant dragon, selected after a series of bizarre “tests” and then infiltrated into Prague […]