ˈair-balloon
[air- 7.]
† 1. = balloon n.1 3. Obs.
| 1753 Publ. Advertiser 25 May, A cascade, and shower of fire, and grand air-balloons, were most magnificently displayed. |
2. A globose bag filled with gas so as to ascend in the air. Cf. balloon n.1 6.
| 1783 [see balloon n.1 6]. 1783 Morning Chron. 8 Sept. 3/4 The first air-balloon he made was filled with fumous particles. 1784 Johnson in Boswell III. 626 On one day I had three letters about the air balloon. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & It. I. 22 The new-invented flying chariot fastened to an air-balloon. 1829 Nat. Philos. I. vi. §51. 28 (U.K.S.) Aërostats, or air-balloons, are machines, constructed so as to be able to rise in the atmosphere. 1907 Daily Mail 9 July 7/4 In July 1901 M. Santos Dumont flew from St. Cloud round the Eiffel Tower and back in his steerable air balloon. |
3. An inflatable toy balloon.
| 1895 Croker Village Tales 155 The child was jumping for joy, and had a green air-balloon in his hand. 1908 H. G. Wells War in Air vi. §2 Small children's air-balloons of the latest model attached to string became a serious check to the pedestrian in Central Park. 1944 O. Sitwell Autobiogr. (1945) I. ii. vi. 227 Fashionable beauties, with psyches that resembled air-balloons, inflated, light and highly coloured. |