Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

airplane

 - 3 dictionary results

air⋅plane

[air-pleyn]
–noun
1. a heavier-than-air aircraft kept aloft by the upward thrust exerted by the passing air on its fixed wings and driven by propellers, jet propulsion, etc.
2. any similar heavier-than-air aircraft, as a glider or helicopter.
Also, especially British, aeroplane.


Origin:
1870–75, for an earlier sense; alter. of aeroplane, with air 1 r. aero-
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To airplane
air·plane   (âr'plān')   
n.  Any of various winged vehicles capable of flight, generally heavier than air and driven by jet engines or propellers.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

airplane 
1907, from air + plane; though the original references are British, the word caught on in Amer.Eng., where it largely superseding earlier aeroplane (1873, and still common in British Eng.; q.v.). Aircraft is also from 1907; airship is 1888, from Ger. Luftschiff "motor-driver dirigible." Air-raid first attested 1914, in ref. to British attacks on Cologne and Dusseldorf in WWI.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see airplane on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: