balloon

[ buh-loon ]

/ bəˈlun /

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See synonyms for: balloon / ballooned on Thesaurus.com

noun

a bag made of thin rubber or other light material, usually brightly colored, inflated with air or with some lighter-than-air gas and used as a children's plaything or as a decoration.

a bag made of a light material, as silk or plastic, filled with heated air or a gas lighter than air, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere and often having a car or gondola attached below for carrying passengers or scientific instruments.

(in drawings, cartoons, etc.) a balloon-shaped outline enclosing words represented as issuing from the mouth of the speaker.

an ornamental ball at the top of a pillar, pier, or the like.

a large, globular wineglass.

Chemistry Now Rare. a round-bottomed flask.

verb (used without object)

to go up or ride in a balloon.

to swell or puff out like a balloon.

to multiply or increase at a rapid rate: Membership has ballooned beyond all expectations.

verb (used with object)

to fill with air; inflate or distend (something) like a balloon.

adjective

puffed out like a balloon: balloon sleeves.

Finance. (of a loan, mortgage, or the like) having a payment at the end of the term that is much bigger than previous ones.

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Origin of balloon

1570–80; <Upper Italian ballone, equivalent to ball(a) (<Langobardic; see ball¹) + -one augmentative suffix; or <Middle French ballon<Upper Italian

OTHER WORDS FROM balloon

bal·loon·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use balloon in a sentence

Shortly thereafter, Facebook announced a similar initiative, although their plan calls for the use of drones instead of balloons.
Silicon Valley Sets Its Sights on Africa|Christian Borys|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
South Korean activists are already planning to loft them over the Demilitarized Zone in balloons.
U.S. Should Make North Korea Pay for Sony Hack|Gordon G. Chang|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer describes balloons being released into the night sky.
The Cleveland Cops Who Fired 137 Shots and Cried Victim|Michael Daly|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She writes on a computer in a drawing program, creating panels and word balloons.
Alison Bechdel: Genius to Watch Out For|Tim Teeman|September 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Simple, cheap, and able to spy for miles around, these updates to classic recon balloons are now a battlefield fixture.
Why Old-School Airships Now Rule Our Warzones|Bill Sweetman|June 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is perhaps somewhat superfluous to say that the Russian Government at once adopted these balloons for war purposes.
Asbestos|Robert H. Jones
At other times, free balloons are liberated, carrying sets of automatic registering instruments.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge|Various
It was small, of twelve thousand cubic feet capacity, as compared with the seventy thousand foot balloons that do the racing.
In Africa|John T. McCutcheon
The principle of the construction of balloons is, therefore, in perfect harmony with physical laws.
Wonderful Balloon Ascents|Fulgence Marion
Buying bread balloons will be the big event of the day for kiddies.
Bread Overhead|Fritz Reuter Leiber

British Dictionary definitions for balloon

balloon

/ (bəˈluːn) /

noun

an inflatable rubber bag of various sizes, shapes, and colours: usually used as a plaything or party decoration

a large impermeable bag inflated with a lighter-than-air gas, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere. It may have a basket or gondola for carrying passengers, etcSee also barrage balloon, hot-air balloon

a circular or elliptical figure containing the words or thoughts of a character in a cartoon

British

a kick or stroke that propels a ball high into the air
(as modifier)a balloon shot

chem a round-bottomed flask

a large rounded brandy glass

commerce

a large sum paid as an irregular instalment of a loan repayment
(as modifier)a balloon loan

surgery

an inflatable plastic tube used for dilating obstructed blood vessels or parts of the alimentary canal
(as modifier)balloon angioplasty

go down like a lead balloon informal to be completely unsuccessful or unpopular

when the balloon goes up informal when the trouble or action begins

verb

(intr) to go up or fly in a balloon

(intr) to increase or expand significantly and rapidlylosses ballooned to £278 million

to inflate or be inflated; distend; swellthe wind ballooned the sails

(tr) British to propel (a ball) high into the air

Derived forms of balloon

ballooning, nounballoonist, nounballoon-like, adjective

Word Origin for balloon

C16 (in the sense: ball, ball game): from Italian dialect ballone, from balla, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German balla ball 1

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with balloon

balloon

In addition to the idiom beginning with balloon

balloon goes up, the

also see:

go over (like a lead balloon)
trial balloon

balloon

Origin of balloon

OTHER WORDS FROM balloon

Words related to balloon

How to use balloon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for balloon

Derived forms of balloon

Word Origin for balloon

Other Idioms and Phrases with balloon