Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

aqualung

British  
/ ˈækwəˌlʌŋ /

noun

  1. breathing apparatus used by divers, etc, consisting of a mouthpiece attached to air cylinders strapped to the back

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Explanation

If your life's ambition is to live underwater like a mermaid, you'd better get practicing on how to use an aqualung, an underwater breathing system. An aqualung is a kind of diving equipment that lets you breathe under water. It's an air tank strapped to your back plus a mouthpiece that lets you breathe in that air. Its name was the brand name of the first ever underwater breathing apparatus, what we now call scuba equipment. There have been lots of developments in scuba diving since then, but many of them are based on the aqualung.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing aqualung

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.

At ten fathoms, with a tank of oxygen on her back and her teeth clamped on an aqualung, Jane is not at her best.

From Time Magazine Archive

In The Silent World, a French navy captain named Jacques-Yves Cousteau, inventor of the "aqualung," describes his underwater adventures with a scientist's care and a poet's feeling.

From Time Magazine Archive

On another wall were three Scuba regulators, not aqualung types such as the boys used, but the variety that carries a full face mask through which the diver breathes.

From The Wailing Octopus by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)

He was suddenly impatient to get going, to put on his aqualung and explore the reef from top to bottom.

From The Wailing Octopus by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)

They launched floats, placed aqualung mouthpieces on top of their masks, and swam parallel to the beach.

From The Wailing Octopus by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)