balloon

Definitions

General English

  • noun a large ball which is blown up with air or gas
  • noun a very large balloon which rises as the air inside it is heated, sometimes with a container attached for people to travel in
  • verb to increase quickly in size or amount

Accounting

  • noun a loan where the last repayment is larger than the others

Aviation

  • noun a large bag inflatable with hot air or gas to provide lift, but without power

Commerce

  • noun a large final payment on a loan, after a number of periodic smaller loans

Cricket

  • verb to hit the ball high in the air but without sufficient force for it to carry a great distance, typically by playing a mistimed shot; the ball ‘floats’ upwards like a balloon and usually presents the fielding side with an easy catch
    Citation ‘They had England’s sixth wicket record for the taking when Botham … ballooned Cairns into the covers after they had added 232’ (John Thicknesse, Cricketer March 1984)
    Citation ‘A miscued sweep ballooned to slip from his boot and a video deliberation was necessary to determine whether it had touched the ground’ (Haigh 2005)

Media Studies

  • noun the rounded space on a cartoon picture where the text of a character’s speech or thoughts is printed.

Medical

  • noun a bag of light material inflated with air or a gas, used to unblock arteries

Military

  • noun a large bag filled with gas to make it rise in the air.

Publishing

  • noun a circle containing the words ‘spoken’ by a character in a cartoon

Slang

  • noun a boastful or loudmouthed individual, a blowhard or puff-bucket. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

Travel

  • noun a large round object which is inflated
  • noun a brandy glass with a wide body tapering to a narrower mouth
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