aeronaut
Americannoun
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the pilot of a balloon or other lighter-than-air aircraft.
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a traveler in an airship.
noun
Etymology
Origin of aeronaut
1775–85; < French aéronaute < Greek āero- aero- + naútēs sailor; cf. nautical, Argonaut
Explanation
An aeronaut is someone who flies an aircraft: a pilot. Originally, an aeronaut was specifically someone who flew a balloon. This word looks a lot like astronaut, and it means something similar: a pilot. Though an aeronaut can be someone who pilots any kind of flying vehicle, this word has most commonly applied to people who fly balloons: balloonists. In the mid-1800's, pioneering scientist and inventor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe made a record balloon journey from Cincinnati to South Carolina, thus becoming an early claimant to this word, which had been coined late in the previous century.
Vocabulary lists containing aeronaut
aer, aero
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"Women in Aviation" by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack
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aer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Friedlander’s Aeronaut Brewery has even explored using nitrogen as a source of fizz in lieu of carbon dioxide.
From Washington Times • Sep. 20, 2022
Aeronaut Brewery is about a five-minute walk through a zigzag of short streets to Cambria Hotel Boston Somerville.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2022
When floating spiders boarded the HMS Beagle in 1832, naturalist Charles Darwin wrote in his journal: “I caught some of the Aeronaut spiders which must have come at least 60 miles.”
From Washington Post • Jun. 14, 2018
The city’s creative hub, Union Square, has been transformed with restaurant and bar openings, plus new businesses like the indoor farmers’ market Something GUD, and the Aeronaut Brewing Co.
From New York Times • Oct. 2, 2014
Aeronaut: A person who goes up in order to come down.
From The Roycroft Dictionary Concocted by Ali Baba and the Bunch on Rainy Days. by Hubbard, Elbert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
