Concrete obstacles pointing upwards from the ground in rows, used against tanks in the Second World War.
〈英，非正式〉龙牙（第二次世界大战中使用的一种楔形防坦克混凝土障碍物）
Example sentencesExamples
When I was told to attack the Siegfried Line, I was given a 1: 100K map and three aerial photos of the pillboxes and dragon's teeth complex in my assigned sector and told to be ready at 4 A.M. but not to move until ordered.
Chairman Paul Melhuish said: ‘We looked at the possibility of fitting dragon's teeth or a barrier that horses and pedestrians could easily step over but would prevent other traffic from using it.’
Phrases
sow (or plant) dragon's teeth
informal Take action that is intended to prevent trouble, but which actually brings it about.
播下（本欲防止麻烦而实际上却带来麻烦的）祸种，种下祸根
Example sentencesExamples
The protection money paid by the family and the support for the catechism of hate that has been a fundamental part of the polity for 50 years is yielding a harvest for those who sewed the dragon's teeth.
The Treaty of Versailles sowed dragon's teeth, generations of enmity.
Beyond nuclear weapons and missiles, North Korea is busy sowing other dragon's teeth with friends.
Punishing families and blowing up houses will only sow dragon's teeth.
He told them that they should yoke two of his fire-breathing bulls and sow dragon's teeth into the ground.
And while it is currently less gory than the one perpetrated by suicide bombers, it is sowing dragon's teeth for the future.
He comments that while the biologists are ‘interested primarily in truth as such… they can hardly be quite uninterested in what will happen when they throw down their dragon's teeth into the world.’
Origin
With allusion to the teeth of the dragon killed by Cadmus.