zeppelin

¹

[zep-uh-lin]

noun

1. (often initial capital letter),  a large dirigible balloon consisting of a long, cylindrical, covered framework containing compartments or cells filled with gas, and of various structures for holding the engines, passengers, etc.

2. any rigid airship or dirigible.

Zeppelin

²

[tsep-uh-leen, tsep-uh-leen, zep-uh-lin]

noun

1. Count Ferdinand von 1838–1917, German general and aeronaut: designer and manufacturer of the zeppelin.

Zeppelin

¹

/ ˈtsɛpəliːn /

noun

1. Count Ferdinand von (ˈfɛrdinant fɔn). 1838–1917, German aeronautical pioneer, who designed and manufactured airships (zeppelins)

zeppelin

²

/ ˈzɛpəlɪn /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a large cylindrical rigid airship built from 1900 to carry passengers, and used in World War I for bombing and reconnaissance

Word History and Origins

Origin of zeppelin¹

First recorded in 1900; after Count von Zeppelin

Word History and Origins

Origin of zeppelin¹

C20: named after Count von _Zeppelin

Example Sentences

Celmins’ 1968 drawings of old black-and-white photographs torn from history books — a 1930s zeppelin airship, Hiroshima’s nearly obliterated 1945 landscape — begin with a sheet of paper prepared with a ground of snow-white acrylic.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Above them was a suspended zeppelin: Imagine a giant balloon of a baked potato floating over 34th Street in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Read more on New York Times

In groundbreaking work published last year, the Harvard team deduced that the stellar halo is tilted and elliptical in shape, like a zeppelin or football.

Read more on Science Daily

And Harper asks viewers to hurt themselves suspending their disbelief, most notably in an action sequence where Rachel jumps out of a plane and lands on a zeppelin called The Locker.

Read more on Salon

In Scotland it became useful as a reconnaissance plane to protect the Forth coastline and Rosyth dockyard against German zeppelins.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• aircraft 
• airplane 
• barge 
• boat 
• plane 
• ship 
• spacecraft 
• vessel