vòi rồng

Một vòi rồng xoáy xuống từ đám mây đen trên biển.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Dragon's snout / Dragon's trunk: The literal meaning, referring to the mythical creature's facial feature. This is the original, folkloric sense.
   • Fire hose: A flexible tube used by firefighters to convey water to extinguish a fire. This is a common, everyday meaning.
   • Waterspout / Tornado: A meteorological phenomenon involving a rotating column of air over water (waterspout) or land (tornado). This is the scientific meaning.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Con rồng phun lửa từ vòi rồng. (The dragon breathed fire from its snout.)
  • Lính cứu hỏa nhanh chóng triển khai vòi rồng. (The firefighter quickly deployed the fire hose.)
  • Một cơn vòi rồng đã hình thành ngoài khơi. (A waterspout formed offshore.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is a compound of "vòi" (spout, trunk, hose) and "rồng" (dragon). Its meanings span from mythology to modern technology and science, showing how language evolves.
• In meteorology, "vòi rồng" is a general term for a funnel-shaped vortex. The specific terms "lốc xoáy" (tornado over land) and "vòi rồng nước" (waterspout) are also used for precision.

Variants and Related Words

• Vòi rồng nước (n): Waterspout; specifically a tornado over a body of water.
  • Vòi rồng nước ít gây thiệt hại hơn lốc xoáy. (A waterspout causes less damage than a tornado.)
• Vòi cứu hỏa (n): Fire hose; a more technical synonym for the firefighting equipment meaning.
  • Vòi cứu hỏa bị rách. (The fire hose is torn.)

Synonyms

• For 'fire hose': Ống cứu hỏa, vòi chữa cháy.
• For 'waterspout/tornado': Lốc xoáy, cơn lốc.

Related Idioms

• Hút như vòi rồng: To consume or absorb something voraciously, like a tornado or a powerful hose.
  • Cỗ máy đó hút điện như vòi rồng. (That machine consumes electricity like a tornado.)