bal·loon
(bə-lōōń)
[French ballon, from Italian dialectal ballone augmentative of balla, ball, of Germanic origin.]
noun
- 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.
verb: -looned, -loon·ing, -loons.
intransitive verb
- To ascend or ride in a balloon.
- To expand or swell out like a balloon. See synonyms at bulge
- To increase or rise quickly.
transitive verb
- To cause to expand by or as if by inflating.
adjective
- Suggestive of a balloon, as in shape: balloon curtains.
derivatives
- bal·loońist
- noun
