glider

[glahy-der]

noun

1. a motorless, heavier-than-air aircraft for gliding from a higher to a lower level by the action of gravity or from a lower to a higher level by the action of air currents.

2. a porch swing made of an upholstered seat suspended from a steel framework by links or springs.

3. a person or thing that glides.

4. a person who pilots a glider.

glider

/ ˈɡlaɪdə /

noun

1. an aircraft capable of gliding and soaring in air currents without the use of an engine See also sailplane

2. a person or thing that glides

3. another name for flying phalanger

Word History and Origins

Origin of glider¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; glide, -er ¹

Example Sentences

The thing looked like a glider with a jet engine, its wings twice as long as its body, so long they drooped when the plane was at rest.

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Miss Pidgeon uses the glider service to attend a course at Belfast Met and said she was "quite shocked" the first time it happened.

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Collected by gliders, floats and drifters, these instruments provide valuable information about the most turbulent region of the hurricane environment, called the boundary layer, where the air meets the ocean.

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It showed Mr Peng holding on to the glider's controls, with his face and much of his body covered in ice crystals.

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In his spare time, he regularly flew glider planes, a hobby of his for 50 years.

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