a bag made of thin rubber or other light material, usually brightly colored, inflated with air or with some lighter-than-air gas and used as a children's plaything or as a decoration.
2.
a bag made of a light material, as silk or plastic, filled with heated air or a gas lighter than air, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere and often having a car or gondola attached below for carrying passengers or scientific instruments.
3.
(in drawings, cartoons, etc.) a balloon-shaped outline enclosing words represented as issuing from the mouth of the speaker.
4.
an ornamental ball at the top of a pillar, pier, or the like.
5.
a large, globular wineglass.
6.
ChemistryNow Rare. a round-bottomed flask.
–verb (used without object)
7.
to go up or ride in a balloon.
8.
to swell or puff out like a balloon.
9.
to multiply or increase at a rapid rate: Membership has ballooned beyond all expectations.
–verb (used with object)
10.
to fill with air; inflate or distend (something) like a balloon.
–adjective
11.
puffed out like a balloon: balloon sleeves.
12.
Finance. (of a loan, mortgage, or the like) having a payment at the end of the term that is much bigger than previous ones.
[Origin: 1570–80; < Upper It ballone, equiv. to ball(a) (< Langobardic; see ball1) + -one aug. suffix; or < MF ballon < Upper It]
A flexible bag designed to be inflated with hot air or with a gas, such as helium, that is lighter than the surrounding air, causing it to rise and float in the atmosphere.
Such a bag with sufficient capacity to lift and transport a suspended gondola or other load.
Such a bag shaped like a figure or object when inflated; an inflatable.
A usually round or oblong inflatable rubber bag used as a toy.
Medicine A sac that is inserted into a body cavity or tube and distended with air or gas for therapeutic purposes, such as angioplasty.
A rounded or irregularly shaped outline containing the words that a character in a cartoon is represented to be saying.
v.
bal·looned, bal·loon·ing, bal·loons
v.
intr.
To ascend or ride in a balloon.
To expand or swell out like a balloon. See Synonyms at bulge.
To increase or rise quickly.
v.
tr.
To cause to expand by or as if by inflating.
adj.
Suggestive of a balloon, as in shape: balloon curtains.
[French ballon, from Italian dialectal ballone, augmentative of balla, ball, of Germanic origin; see bhel-2 in Indo-European roots.]
1579, "a game played with a large inflated leather ball," perhaps borrowed in part from Fr. ballon, altered (after balle) from It. pallone "large ball," from palla "ball," from Langobardic palla (from P.Gmc. *ball-, from PIE *bhel- "to blow, swell") + -one suffix indicating great size. It also meant the ball itself (1592), which was batted back and forth by means of large wooden paddles strapped to the forearms. In 17c., it also meant "a type of fireworks housed in a pasteboard ball" (1634) and "round ball used as an architectural ornament" (1656). Acquired modern meaning after Montgolfier brothers' flights, 1783. As a child's toy, it is attested from 1848; as "outline containing words in a comic engraving" it dates from 1844. The verb meaning "to swell, puff up" is attested from 1841. Trial balloon is congnate of Fr. ballon d'essai.
Air\ ([^a]r), n. [OE. air, eir, F. air, L. a["e]r, fr. Gr. 'ah`r, air, mist, for 'a[digamma]hr, fr. root 'a[digamma] to blow, breathe, probably akin to E. wind. In sense 10 the French has taking a meaning fr. It. aria atmosphere, air, fr. the same Latin word; and in senses 11, 12, 13 the French meaning is either fr. L. aria, or due to confusion with F. aire, in an older sense of origin, descent. Cf. A["e]ry, Debonair, Malaria, Wind.]1. The fluid which we breathe, and which surrounds the earth; the atmosphere. It is invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic, and ponderable. Note: By the ancient philosophers, air was regarded as an element; but modern science has shown that it is essentially a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, with a small amount of carbon dioxide, the average proportions being, by volume: oxygen, 20.96 per cent.; nitrogen, 79.00 per cent.; carbon dioxide, 0.04 per cent. These proportions are subject to a very slight variability. Air also always contains some vapor of water. 2. Symbolically: Something unsubstantial, light, or volatile. "Charm ache with air." --Shak. He was still all air and fire. [Air and fire being the finer and quicker elements as opposed to earth and water.] --Macaulay . 3. A particular state of the atmosphere, as respects heat, cold, moisture, etc., or as affecting the sensations; as, a smoky air, a damp air, the morning air, etc. 4. Any a["e]riform body; a gas; as, oxygen was formerly called vital air. [Obs.] 5. Air in motion; a light breeze; a gentle wind. Let vernal airs through trembling osiers play. --Pope. 6. Odoriferous or contaminated air. 7. That which surrounds and influences. The keen, the wholesome air of poverty. --Wordsworth. 8. Utterance abroad; publicity; vent. You gave it air before me. --Dryden. 9. Intelligence; information. [Obs.] --Bacon. 10. (Mus.) (a) A musical idea, or motive, rhythmically developed in consecutive single tones, so as to form a symmetrical and balanced whole, which may be sung by a single voice to the stanzas of a hymn or song, or even to plain prose, or played upon an instrument; a melody; a tune; an aria. (b) In harmonized chorals, psalmody, part songs, etc., the part which bears the tune or melody -- in modern harmony usually the upper part -- is sometimes called the air. 11. The peculiar look, appearance, and bearing of a person; mien; demeanor; as, the air of a youth; a heavy air; a lofty air. "His very air." --Shak. 12. Peculiar appearance; apparent character; semblance; manner; style. It was communicated with the air of a secret. --Pope. 12. pl. An artificial or affected manner; show of pride or vanity; haughtiness; as, it is said of a person, he puts on airs. --Thackeray. 14. (Paint.) (a) The representation or reproduction of the effect of the atmospheric medium through which every object in nature is viewed. --New Am. Cyc. (b) Carriage; attitude; action; movement; as, the head of that portrait has a good air. --Fairholt. 15. (Man.) The artificial motion or carriage of a horse. Note: Air is much used adjectively or as the first part of a compound term. In most cases it might be written indifferently, as a separate limiting word, or as the first element of the compound term, with or without the hyphen; as, air bladder, air-bladder, or airbladder; air cell, air-cell, or aircell; air-pump, or airpump. Air balloon. See Balloon. Air bath. (a) An apparatus for the application of air to the body. (b) An arrangement for drying substances in air of any desired temperature. Air castle. See Castle in the air, under Castle. Air compressor, a machine for compressing air to be used as a motive power. Air crossing, a passage for air in a mine. Air cushion, an air-tight cushion which can be inflated; also, a device for arresting motion without shock by confined air. Air fountain, a contrivance for producing a jet of water by the force of compressed air. Air furnace, a furnace which depends on a natural draft and not on blast. Air line, a straight line; a bee line. Hence Air-line, adj.; as, air-line road. Air lock (Hydr. Engin.), an intermediate chamber between the outer air and the compressed-air chamber of a pneumatic caisson. --Knight. Air port (Nav.), a scuttle or porthole in a ship to admit air. Air spring, a spring in which the elasticity of air is utilized. Air thermometer, a form of thermometer in which the contraction and expansion of air is made to measure changes of temperature. Air threads, gossamer. Air trap, a contrivance for shutting off foul air or gas from drains, sewers, etc.; a stench trap. Air trunk, a pipe or shaft for conducting foul or heated air from a room. Air valve, a valve to regulate the admission or egress of air; esp. a valve which opens inwardly in a steam boiler and allows air to enter. Air way, a passage for a current of air; as the air way of an air pump; an air way in a mine. In the air. (a) Prevalent without traceable origin or authority, as rumors. (b) Not in a fixed or stable position; unsettled. (c) (Mil.) Unsupported and liable to be turned or taken in flank; as, the army had its wing in the air. To take air, to be divulged; to be made public. To take the air, to go abroad; to walk or ride out.
Bal*loon"\, n. [F. ballon, aug. of balle ball: cf. It. ballone. See 1st Ball, n., and cf. Pallone.]1. A bag made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; especially, one with a car attached for a["e]rial navigation. 2. (Arch.) A ball or globe on the top of a pillar, church, etc., as at St. Paul's, in London. [R.] 3. (Chem.) A round vessel, usually with a short neck, to hold or receive whatever is distilled; a glass vessel of a spherical form. 4. (Pyrotechnics) A bomb or shell. [Obs.] 5. A game played with a large inflated ball. [Obs.] 6. (Engraving) The outline inclosing words represented as coming from the mouth of a pictured figure. Air balloon, a balloon for a["e]rial navigation. Balloon frame (Carp.), a house frame constructed altogether of small timber. Balloon net, a variety of woven lace in which the weft threads are twisted in a peculiar manner around the warp.
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