helicopter

[ hel-i-kop-ter, hee-li- ]

/ ˈhɛl ɪˌkɒp tər, ˈhi lɪ- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR helicopter ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of a class of heavier-than-air craft that are lifted and sustained in the air horizontally by rotating wings or blades turning on vertical axes through power supplied by an engine.

verb (used without object)

to fly in a helicopter.

verb (used with object)

to convey in a helicopter.

Nearby words

helicoid, helicoid cyme, helicon, helicopod gait, helicopt, helicopter, helicopter gunship, helicopter parent, helicopter parenting, helicopter view, helicospore

Origin of helicopter

From the French word hélicoptère, dating back to 1885–90. See helico-, -pter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for helicopter

Employees strap a device to their heads and power a helicopter drone with their minds.
Use Your Brain—Control a Drone|The Daily Beast Video|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Du Pont would even fly his wrestlers to tournaments in his Learjet or helicopter.
Foxcatcher’s Real-Life Psycho Killer|Marlow Stern|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
After our helicopter crashed in the courtyard, Jimbo and I rushed inside the house.
I Shot Bin Laden|Elliot Ackerman|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ten days later, it will start air missions using two airplanes and one helicopter.
Britain’s Let-Em-All-Die Policy|Nico Hines, Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST

At about 11 p.m. State Police started flying a helicopter over the scene, ordering the crowds to disperse.
Frat Culture Clashes With Riot Police at Keene, N.H., Pumpkin Festival|Melanie Plenda|October 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Moreover, with a helicopter, it is not necessary to face the direction you intend to go.
The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel|Arthur W. Orton
He took two steps on the swaying, swinging rope as the helicopter started to climb and suddenly he felt himself losing strength.
The Secret of the Ninth Planet|Donald Allen Wollheim
The helicopter was circling now over the men riding into a cut between two rises.
The Defiant Agents|Andre Alice Norton
One of the vanes of the helicopter crumpled and fluttered away into the night.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930|Various
But the helicopter must be taken before they advanced toward the ship and the settlement.
The Defiant Agents|Andre Alice Norton

British Dictionary definitions for helicopter

helicopter

/ (ˈhɛlɪˌkɒptə) /

noun

an aircraft capable of hover, vertical flight, and horizontal flight in any direction. Most get all of their lift and propulsion from the rotation of overhead bladesSee also autogiro

verb

to transport (people or things) or (of people or things) to be transported by helicopter

Word Origin for helicopter

C19: from French hélicoptère, from helico- + Greek pteron wing

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

Word Origin and History for helicopter

helicopter

1861, from French hélicoptère "device for enabling airplanes to rise perpendicularly," thus "flying machine propelled by screws." The idea was to gain lift from spiral aerofoils, and it didn't work. Used by Jules Verne and the Wright Brothers, the word transferred to helicopters in the modern sense when those were developed in the 1920s. From Greek helix (genitive helikos) "spiral" (see helix) + pteron "wing" (see pterodactyl). Nativized in Flemish as wentelwiek "with rotary vanes."

helicopter

noun

verb (used without object)

verb (used with object)

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Nearby words

Origin of helicopter

Examples from the Web for helicopter

British Dictionary definitions for helicopter

helicopter

noun

verb

Word Origin for helicopter

Word Origin and History for helicopter

helicopter