Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for parachute on Thesaurus.com a folding, umbrellalike, fabric device with cords supporting a harness or straps for allowing a person, object, package, etc., to float down safely through the air from a great height, especially from an aircraft, rendered effective by the resistance of the air that expands it during the descent and reduces the velocity of its fall. parachute brake . Horology a shockproofing device for the balance staff of a watch, consisting of a yielding, springlike support for the bearing at either end. Informal the aggregate of benefits, as severance pay or vacation pay, given an employee who is dismissed from a company. golden parachute .Show More
verb (used with object), par·a·chut·ed, par·a·chut·ing. to drop or land (troops, equipment, supplies, etc.) by parachute. Show More
verb (used without object), par·a·chut·ed, par·a·chut·ing. to descend by parachute. Show More
Origin of parachute 1775–85; <
French, equivalent to
para- para-2 +
chute fall; see
chute1 Related forms par·a·chut·ic , adjective par·a·chut·ist , par·a·chut·er , noun Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for parachute plummet ,
skip ,
dive ,
drop ,
bound ,
bounce ,
surge ,
take ,
hop ,
fall ,
vault ,
top ,
quiver ,
barge ,
rattle ,
pop ,
hurdle ,
shake ,
trip ,
caper Examples from the Web for parachute Contemporary Examples of parachute Are you the kind of criminal who steals a plane and then jumps without a parachute from high over a body of water?
Daniel Craig, in his finest Bond dinner jacket, called at the Palace and invited her to parachute into the stadium with him.
And for wingsuit divers, the only way flight can be “real” is if one can land without a parachute .
The modern history of the flight, however, gets its start with Jacques-Sébastien Lenormand and his parachute in 1783.
The second story, which really picks up steam in the latter half of the book, is the race to land without a parachute .
Historical Examples of parachute He knew he was falling, jerking down as the parachute ripped on the boughs.
This was attached to a parachute which, if the emergency arose, could be dropped.
He came down by parachute , without the ball in which he should have sealed himself.
He had no parachute and no life belt or Mae West suit to float him.
Your hand weapons and food supplies will be dropped by parachute as we leave.
British Dictionary definitions for parachute a device used to retard the fall of a man or package from an aircraft, consisting of a large fabric canopy connected to a harness (as modifier ) parachute troops Sometimes shortened to: chute See also brake parachute Show More
(of troops, supplies, etc) to land or cause to land by parachute from an aircraft (in an election) to bring in (a candidate, esp someone well known) from outside the constituency Show More
Derived Forms parachutist , noun Word Origin for parachute C18: from French, from para- ² + chute fall
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for parachute n. 1784 (the year the use of one first was attempted, in Paris), from French parachute , literally "that which protects against a fall," hybrid coined by French aeronaut François Blanchard (1753-1809) from para- "defense against" (see para- (2)) + chute "a fall" (see chute ).
PARACHUTE, a kind of large and strong umbrella, contrived to break a person's fall from an airballoon, should any accident happen to the balloon at a high elevation. ["Supplement to the Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," Philadelphia, 1803] Show More
v. 1807, from parachute (n.). Related: Parachuted ; parachuting .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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