volplane

American  

[vol-playn] / ˈvɒlˌpleɪn /

verb (used without object)

volplaned, volplaning

1. to glide toward the earth in an airplane, with no motor power or with the power shut off.

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noun

1. a glide in an airplane.

Other Word Forms

• volplanist
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of volplane

1905–10; < French vol plané glided flight, equivalent to vol flight (noun derivative of voler < Latin volāre to fly) + plané, past participle of planer to glide ( see plane ¹)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

volplane volplaned volplaning

Meanwhile Sir Alan Cobham had been forced by a faulty spark plug to volplane to earth near Nuneaton.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus summoned to ride the whirlwind the Colonial Secretary executed a graceful volplane.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, February 23, 1916 by Sir Owen Seaman

They were then at an altitude of a mile, and inability to start the motor made it necessary for them to volplane to the earth.

From The Boy Volunteers with the French Airman by Kenneth Ward

To volplane from such a height and at such speed is almost the keenest test of courage that can be put upon a man who for the first time seeks to emulate the bird.

From Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils by Alice B. Emerson

Andy attempted some volplane skits that were fairly hair-raising.

From Airship Andy or The Luck of a Brave Boy by Frank V. Webster

"I might have volplaned back to earth, but at the speed we were going, and at the height, around a curve, we might have turned turtle."

From Tom Swift and His Sky Racer, or, the Quickest Flight on Record by Victor [pseud.] Appleton

Tom now volplaned again, wishing to draw nearer to the earth.

From Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines The German Spy's Secret by Charles Amory Beach

Others in long slants volplaned toward the hidden sea, miles below the cloud-plain.

From The Flying Legion by George Allan England

So they volplaned slowly downward, every eye strained for a safe landing-place.

From Lost in the Air by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell

Scarcely had he spoken when Dick shut off the engine entirely and volplaned to the broad roadway and only a short distance from the bridge.

From The Rover Boys in the Air From College Campus to the Clouds by Edward Stratemeyer

We have the devotees of St. Vitus' dance called Jazz . . . volplaning down the descending scale.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, as he was volplaning, this cut down the speed, and from a height of ten feet above a field the machine dropped to the ground with a flat plop.

From The Trail of the Hawk A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life by Sinclair Lewis

But, speaking of volplaning, I've had three lessons this week.

From The Hollow of Her Hand by George Barr McCutcheon

"Oh! that's what they call volplaning," he hastened to say, while he watched the coming of the air craft with eagerness.

From The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron by Robert Shaler

He must, to keep from volplaning to the infinite, go down and gnaw his daily bone.

From Unicorns by James Huneker

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