Link Centre Dictionary

balloon

bal·loon

UK/bəˈluːn/ US/bəˈlʉwn/ fairly common slang
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.
2.

large tough non-rigid bag filled with gas or heated air

verb

1.

ride in a hot-air balloon

  • “He tried to balloon around the earth but storms forced him to land in China”
2.

become inflated

  • “The sails ballooned”
Synonyms

Origin

First use appears c. 1591, "a game played with a large, inflated leather ball" (possibly via Middle French ballon) from Italian pallone (“large ball”) from palla (“ball”), from Lombardic *palla. The Northern Italian form, balla (“ball-shaped bundle”), today a doublet, likely derived from Old French balle, from Frankish *balla (“ball”), and may have influenced the spelling of this word. Both Germanic words are from Proto-Germanic *ballô (“ball”), *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”). Akin to Old High German ballo, bal (“ball”), (German Ballen (“bale”); Ball "ball"). Doublet of ballon. More at ball.

Phrases

  • anger balloon
  • balloon animal
  • balloon apron
  • balloon arch
  • balloon artist
  • balloon back
  • balloon barrage
  • balloon berry

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.