balloon Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun large tough nonrigid bag filled with gas or heated air
  2. noun small thin inflatable rubber bag with narrow neck
  3. verb ride in a hot-air balloon
    • He tried to balloon around the earth but storms forced him to land in China
  4. verb become inflated
    inflate; billow.
    • The sails ballooned

WordNet

Bal*loon" noun
Etymology
F. ballon, aug. of balle ball: cf. It. ballone. See 1st Ball, n., and cf. Pallone.
Definitions
  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 aërial 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 infated ball. Obs.
  6. (Engraving) The outline inclosing words represented as coming from the mouth of a pictured figure.
Bal*loon" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To take up in, or as if in, a balloon.
Bal*loon" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To go up or voyage in a balloon.
  2. To expand, or puff out, like a balloon.

Webster 1913