ballooning
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia.
bal·loon
(bə-lo͞on′)n.
1.
a. 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.
b. Such a bag with sufficient capacity to lift and transport a suspended gondola or other load.
c. Such a bag shaped like a figure or object when inflated; an inflatable.
2. A usually round or oblong inflatable rubber bag used as a toy or decoration.
3. Medicine An inflatable device that is inserted into a body cavity or structure and distended with air or gas for therapeutic purposes, such as angioplasty.
4.
a. See speech bubble.
b. See thought bubble.
5. A balloon payment.
v. bal·looned, bal·loon·ing, bal·loons
v.intr.
1. To ascend or ride in a balloon.
2. To expand or swell out like a balloon. See Synonyms at bulge.
3. To increase or rise quickly: expenses ballooning out of control.
v.tr.
To cause to expand by or as if by inflating: unforeseen expenditures that ballooned the deficit.
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- in Indo-European roots.]
bal·loon′ist n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ballooning
the art and science of operating balloons for sport or air travel. Also balloonry.
See also: Aviation-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
| Noun | 1. |  ballooning - flying in a balloon |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
ballooning
[bəˈluːnɪŋ] n (also hot-air ballooning) to go ballooning → faire de la montgolfière
adj (= increasing) [deficit, debt, costs] → galopant(e)
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005