aerial

aerial, a.
  (ˈɛərɪəl; orig. eɪˈɪərɪəl, eɪˈɛrɪəl) The three-syllable pronunciation is now in general use except in poetry when the metre calls for four syllables.
  Also 7 aereal.
  [f. L. āeri-us or āere-us airy (f. āer air) + -al¹. As L. had two forms of the adj., āerius a. Gr. ἀέριος, and āereus after L. anal. as in aureus, ferreus, etc., so the early spelling in Eng. varied between aereal and aerial; the latter is alone used now. Cf. aereous and aerious, ethereal and etherial.]
  Airy or of air.
  I. Of air as a substance.
  1. Consisting or composed of air; aeriform, gaseous. aerial acid: obs. name of carbonic acid gas, as being the only aeriform or gaseous acid.

1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 118 The aërial particles may be in a new motion. 1772 Priestley Air in Phil. Trans. LXII. 153 It is not improbable but that fixed air..may be of the nature of an acid..Mr. Bergman of Upsal..calls it the aërial acid.

  2. Thin or attenuated as air, etherial; unsubstantial, intangible, shadowy; hence, immaterial, ideal, imaginary. aerial architecture: building castles in the air.

1610 Healey St. Aug., City of God 349 Those creatures..being reasonable, passive, aereall and immortall. 1651 Hobbes Leviathan i. xii. 53 The Latines..thought them Spirits, that is, thin aëreall bodies. 1714 Mandeville Fable of Bees (1725) I. 40 The breath of man, the aerial coin of praise. 1829 Scott Demonol. x. 388 She was surprised to see a gleamy figure, as of some aerial being. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxvii. (C.D. ed.) 213 With such triumphs of aërial architecture did Mrs. Nickleby occupy the whole of the evening. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. iv. vii. (1864) II. 344 The Church may draw fine and aërial distinctions.

  3. Light as air, airy.

1606 L. Bryskett Civill Life 54 For that tender age is rather sanguine and aeriall. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1842 I. 24 This delicate and aërial faculty, which seems too volatile to endure even the chains of a definition. a 1802 W. L. Bowles Poems I. 149 Aërial Claude shall paint The gray fane peering o'er the summer woods.

  II. Of the mass of air or atmosphere.
  4. Of, pertaining to, or produced in the air or atmosphere; atmospheric.

1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 39 Euen till we make the Maine, and th' Eriall blew, An indistinct regard. 1697 Dryden Virgil Georgics (J.) Aerial honey, and ambrosial dews. 1819 Shelley Prom. Unb. ii. v. 13 As the aërial hue Of fountain-gazing roses. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea xv. §677. 370 On the edges of this remarkable aerial current the wind is variable. 1870 Tyndall Heat vi. §206. 164 We live at the bottom of an aerial ocean.

  aerial perspective.

1731 Bailey, vol. II, Aerial Perspective is that which represents bodies weakened and diminished in proportion to their distance from the eye. 1851 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. ii. i. §3 Aërial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of colour, etc.

  5. a. Existing or moving in the atmosphere, above the earth, flying or floating in the air.

1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. (1676) 28/1 Aeriall Spirits or Devils are such as keep quarter most part in the air. 1704 Pope Pastorals, Spring 16 While she [the Nightingale] sings..All th' aerial audience clap their wings. 1836–7 Dickens Sketches (1850) 78/2 Then the balloons went up, and the aërial travellers stood up. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vi. (1873) 142 Petrels are the most aërial and oceanic of birds.

  b. esp. with reference to locomotion in the air by means of aircraft (aerial navigation, aerial ship, aerial transport, etc.); conducted by aircraft (aerial attack, aerial photography, aerial top-dressing (N.Z.), aerial warfare, etc.); dropped from an aircraft (aerial bomb, aerial mine, aerial torpedo, etc.); in other uses relating to aircraft or aviation, as aerial camera, aerial corridor, aerial screw, etc. Some of the collocations (listed for convenience of reference in alphabetical order) are falling into disuse in favour of the corresponding expressions with air- as first element (see air n.¹ B).

1915 Readers' Guide to Periodical Lit. 1910–14 III. 19/2 *Aerial advertising company.

1919 H. G. Anderson Med. & Surg. Aspects of Aviation i. 4 The French conceived the idea of having *aerial ambulances to convey quickly the wounded.

1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm ix. 162 Fleets and armies... These ancient services [have] to be reinforced by the new *aerial arm.

1908 H. G. Wells War in Air viii. §4 The drachenflieger appeared as little flecks on either wing of this *aerial Armada.

1909 A. L. Rotch Conquest of Air v. 176 In view of the possibility of this method of *aërial attack on land or sea it is unfortunate that..the United States was alone among the other first-class powers to agree to prohibit..the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons.

1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence x. 246 It is the first *aërial battle—may we not say it is the last, too?

1784 Morning Herald 18 Mar. 2/3 The *aerial boat. 1836 New Monthly Mag. Sept. 60 Mr. Southey's aërial boat.

1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm vii. 136 Freedom..is blighted by the curse of *aerial bombs.

1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm 135 It is..conceded that there is no form of frightfulness so trying to the nerves as *aerial bombing. 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 21 The aerial bombing of Germany reached a new pitch of intensity.

1910 Flight II. 96/2 An *Aerial 'Bus for Pau... The airship is to carry eight passengers besides the crew.

1919 H. Shaw Text-bk. Aeronaut. xxii. 249 The modern *aerial camera is a modified form of the original ‘press’ camera used in the early days of aerial work.

1785 in S. Stubelius Balloon (1960) 54 *Aerial car [sc. basket of a balloon]. 1957 Everybody's Weekly 16 Feb. 10 Whether you want an aerial car or bus..the amazing helicopter will do the job.

1887 tr. J. Verne's Clipper of Clouds xxii. 231 An *aerial combat was beginning in which there were none of the chances of safety as in a sea-fight.

1921 Flight XIII. 293/1 The *aerial corridor for machines entering or leaving France..has now been enlarged.

1884 Cassell's Family Mag. 764/2 On arriving at Villebon the *aërial craft was steered gradually round. 1910 Flight II. 655/1 The movement of aerial craft.

1912 Flight IV. 471/1 On June 8th will take place, starting from London Aerodrome, Hendon, the first *aerial Derby.

1893 Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 72 Mr. Horatio Phillips has, for the first time in *aërial dynamics, conveyed a weight of 400 lbs., with the aid of superposed narrow surfaces.

1784 Universal Mag. LXXIV. 18 A full account of the late wonderful *Aërial Excursions.

1900 Science XII. 798/1 What..will become of national frontiers when the *aërial fleets can cross them with impunity?

1922 Flight XIV. 218/2 New ones [aeroplanes] which should bring down the rate of *aerial freight to the value of those now charged in France for first-class railway passengers.

1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm v. 100 For purposes of self-defence, one or more passengers are carried as *aerial gunners in addition to the pilot.

1918 F. H. Colvin Aircraft Mech. Handbk. xxi. 311 School of *Aerial Gunnery.

1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 9 *Aërial Lighthouses, aerial beacons to guide aviators at night through the atmospheric ocean.

1906 Sci. Amer. 21 Apr. 327/2 Compared with any other means of transportation, the *aerial line seems miraculously safe. 1920 Discovery Mar. 80/1 It is probable that kite balloons will be used as landmarks for the main aerial lines over the world.

1909 Flight I. 801/1 Baron v. Roenne gives some interesting particulars regarding a proposed *aerial liner.

1843 in S. Stubelius Balloon (1960) 56 The Project of Aërial Locomotion refuted... The *aërial locomotive will then go up, and..not till then.

1784 Morning Herald 16 Feb. 3/4 The aerial navigators..mounted in the gallery of the balloon..the cords, which held the *aerial machine, were cut. 1897 Baden-Powell in United Service Mag. Apr. 46 There are two distinct schools of inventors of aërial machines, the subject of navigable balloons being very different from that of flying machines proper. 1905 Aeronaut. Jrnl. Oct. 57 (title) The Vertical Screw Aërial Machine.

1911 Daily Mail 23 Aug. 3/6 A contract has also been entered into..for conveyance of the *aerial mail from London to Windsor.

1921 H. E. Porter Aerial Observation viii. 342 *Aërial maps of forests have been made.

1908 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. XXX. 681 If, then, a nation can submerge a mine for the destruction of ships from underneath the water, why can it not drop an *aërial mine upon a ship from above? 1938 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 618 A new type of aerial mine has been invented... These mines are suspended under captive balloons.

1903 Aeronaut. Jrnl. 8 When we can order round our *aerial motor to take us straight to our destination.

1804 G. Cayley Note-book (1933) 80, I am well convinced that *Aerial Navigation will form a most prominent feature in the progress of civilization. 1922 Aerial navigation [see navigation].

1784, 1825 *Aerial navigator [see navigator]. 1951 Times Wkly. 31 Jan. 18/5 New British Aerial Navigator. The Flight Log. A new British automatic system of aerial navigation which will ease the complicated task of the pilot is going into quantity production... The equipment..automatically shows the pilot his position on a map.

1783 in W. H. Robinson's (Newcastle-on-Tyne) Catal. no. 14 (1926) 49 [Aeronautical Cartoon], The Montgolfier, A first Rate of the French *Aerial Navy. 1909 Sci. Amer. 12 June 443/3 London newspapers comment bitterly on the fact that Germany spends nearly eighty times as much as Great Britain for the creation of an aerial navy.

1914 Hamel & Turner Flying xvi. 280 The *aerial observation officer must be highly trained... Nothing appears yet to have been done towards making staff officers capable of taking aerial observations.

1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 189 The planning of bomb raids and concerted *aerial offensives.

1897 Scribner's Mag. XXII. 618/1 The first *aërial photograph taken in America..was on a wet plate from a balloon over the city of Boston in 1862. 1919 H. Shaw Text-bk. Aeronaut. xxii. 252 Only experts can be expected to read all the information that may be contained in an aerial photograph.

1897 Scribner's Mag. XXII. 617/2 M. Nadar, of Paris, was one of the earliest experimenters in *aërial photography. 1937 Discovery Oct. 306/1 In recent years aerial photography has played an important part in revealing the location of abandoned cities, for the artificial configuration of the ground appears in the air photograph and reveals the work of man.

1868 Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 37 The measure of his *aërial planes.

1911 World of Stamps Oct. 6/1 The first *aerial post..was that instituted in besieged Paris in 1870.

1908 H. G. Wells War in Air xi. §2 The second *aerial power in Europe at this time was France.

1884 Knowledge VI. 230/1 The accompanying engraving represents an *aërial propeller recently patented. 1910 Flight II. 867/1 A ‘skimmer’ with an aerial propeller.

1915 Lancet 12 June 1249/2 The dangers of an *aerial raid.

1914 R.F.C. Training Man. 11. 22 *Aerial reconnaissance..may be considered under three heads: strategical, tactical and protective.

1908 Sci. Amer. 3 Oct. 218/1 The *aerial scout [i.e. an aeroplane], rising high into the air, would command a vast field of observation.

1856 Brit. Patent 2993 [The] first impetus..is easily sustained and increased by turning the *aërial screw. 1867 Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 31 The French Aërial Screw..was now exhibited. 1892 O. Chanute in Railroad & Engin. Jrnl. Mar. 133/2 A proposed aerial screw machine.

1784 Morning Herald 18 Mar. 2/3 Mr. Blanchard had..given notice of an *ærial ship in which he was to take flight through the air. 1834 Times 15 Aug. 3/2 It was intended, or given out so in Paris, that on the 15th instant (this day) the aerial ship of Count de Lennox was to set out on the voyage to England. 1865 Mech. Mag. XIV. 64/1 Mr. Low, another American aëronaut, has constructed what he terms an aërial ship.

1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 180 Throughout the Somme Push we were able to maintain that *aerial superiority without which a great offensive cannot succeed.

1919 Aeronautics 2 Oct. 322 (heading) Antarctic *Aerial Survey.

1921 Ibid. 28 Apr. 304/1 The Government of India has issued a paper which deals with some experiments in *aerial surveying which have been made.

1958 Oxf. Mail 27 June 1/2 Two United States..*aerial tankers landed at Brize Norton today after breaking the New York-London record.

1946 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. LXXIII. 193/2 The extensive areas of copper-deficient peat; land in New Zealand provided a suitable opportunity to try out *aerial topdressing under circumstances reasonably favourable to success. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. p. xxi, Throughout this hill country aerial topdressing has made spectacular progress in improving the carrying capacity of the land.

1896 Invention 6 June 356/2 Mr. Rich..has invented an *aerial torpedo capable of dealing death and destruction to..an ordinary sized county. 1938 News Review 25 Aug. 24/1 Three weeks ago a Japanese aerial torpedo fell within 50 feet of him at Hankow, splashing him with mud.

1908 H. G. Wells War in Air viii. §2 They were declared to be *aerial torpedo-boats, and the aeronaut was supposed to swoop close to his antagonist and cast his bombs as he whirled past.

1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence ix. 202 So important was *aërial traffic become. 1910 Times 21 Mar. 6/6 Aerial traffic is not to circulate at the height of less than 50 mètres over buildings and enclosed property, nor are aerial vehicles to stop over enclosed property at any height below 500 mètres.

1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 27 When you visit the Continent after the war,..travel by the Franco-British service of *aerial transport.

1784 Universal Mag. LXXIV. 20/2 The sensations of the two *aërial travellers.

1784 Universal Mag. LXXV. 264/1 The gallery of one of these *aerial vehicles. 1809 G. Cayley in W. Nicholson Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Nov. 167 In such proportion may aerial vehicles be loaded with inactive matter.

1784 Morning Herald 1 Dec. 2/4 The first ascent of the *aerial vessel. 1838 T. M. Mason Aeronautica 325 The first of these [restrictions] regards the form of the aerial vessel. 1909 Times 27 Sept. 8/2 Breakage of the propeller blade is a serious danger in every form of aerial vessel.

1908 H. G. Wells War in Air viii. §2 The early battles of the *aerial war were no doubt determined by attempts to realise the old naval maxim, to ascertain the position of the enemy's fleet and to destroy it.

1895 Knowledge XVIII. 276/1 *Aerial warfare..likely to ensue when aerial navigation becomes an accomplished fact.

1784 Morning Herald 1 Dec. 2/4 The Devonshire *Aerial Yacht. 1920 Aerial yacht [see air n.1 B. III. 5].

  6. a. Placed aloft, or at an airy height, lofty, elevated; also fig.

1620 Choyce Drollery in Shaks. Cent. Praise 134 Cloud⁓grapling Chapman, whose Aerial minde Soares at Philosophy, and strikes it blinde. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 183 Here subterranean works and cities see, There towns aerial on the waving tree. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) II. 97 Rising into the aerial altitudes of imagination.

  b. aerial cableway, aerial ropeway: see quots.; aerial railway, aerial tramway, a track consisting of overhead wires, cables, or rails supporting carriages, usually driven by electricity; aerial wire, a wire or wires (by extension also a rod, etc.) supported in the air for radiating or receiving electromagnetic waves; an antenna; hence applied to things connected with this, as aerial array, aerial circuit, aerial switch, aerial system, etc. Also n., short for aerial wire.

1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Aerial railway, an attempt to govern the balloon or aërostat by guiding rails or wires stretched between posts. 1889 Cent. Dict., Aerial railway, a name sometimes applied to systems of transportation by cars suspended from a rail or rope above them. 1903 Buddhism I. 157 A gorgeous car..ran on an aerial ropeway to the top of the scaffolding from the Pogoda platform. 1904 Sci. Amer. Suppl. LVII. 23438/3 (title) Aerial tramways as an economic means of transportation. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 62/2 The aerial cableway is a development of the ropeway, and is a conveyor capable of hoisting and dumping at any desired point. 1957 in Amer. Speech (1963) XXXVIII. 204 Aerial tramway, usually two enclosed cabins which counter balance each other and transport a group of skiers at once. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 196/1 Aerial Ropeways are used for transporting material in bulk over long distances and over hilly ground or valley... They consist of a series of towers carrying suspension wires to which are attached carriers for the material.

1899 Marconi in Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. XXVIII. 274 A vertical conductor W, which I will call the aërial conductor. Ibid. 289 The aërial wire comes through the framework of a skylight. 1902 [see antenna 5]. 1906 A. F. Collins Man. Wireless Telegr. 208 Aerial, a word much used instead of the longer term aerial wire. Ibid., Aerial switch, a switch used to throw the aerial wire into connection with the spark-gap and out of connection with the detector, and vice versa. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 8 Dec. 9/4 The four aerials connected with the mast cover about an acre and a half. 1913 Yr. Bk. Wireless Telegr. 415 Aerial Circuit.—Starts at the free or insulated end of the aerial and ends with the connection to earth. 1930 Times 25 Mar. 11/3 There appears to be no reason for supposing that an effective aerial array would need masts over 180 ft. in height. 1930 B.B.C. Yr.-Bk. 1931 407 One 70-foot mast supports an umbrella aerial system serving the D.F. equipment. 1937 Discovery Feb. 43/2 A standard di-pole G.E.C. receiving aerial for television.

  7. Growing, or existing, in the air or above ground, instead of underground or under water.

1624 Wotton Elem. Archit. i. 10 Firre Trees, Cypresses, Cedars, and such other Aereall aspiring Plants..are..fittest for Posts or Pillars or such vpright vse. 1842 Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §1. (1880) 34 Aerial Roots for climbing are familiar in the Ivy.

Oxford English Dictionary