Contextualizebeta

balloonacy

noun

Etymology

Blend of balloon + lunacy.

  1. derived from luna — “moon”
  2. derived from lunaticus — “moonstruck”
  3. derived from lunatique
  4. inherited from lunatik
  5. suffixed as lunacy — “lunatic + cy”
  6. compounded as balloonacy — “balloon + lunacy”

Definitions

  1. An excessive mania for hot-air balloons.

    • We live in an age of balloonacy. Only a few weeks ago I sent you the account of M. Nadar and his 'Géant,” “the greatest balloon in the world;” now M. Eugène Godard has built an 'Aigle,' by the side of which the 'Giant' is a mere dwarf.
    • Horace Walpole was severe on this new whimsy of balloonacy, which was only chilled, not extinguished, by De Rosière's catastrophe.
    • In the milder case of "balloonacy" the enthusiast proposes essentially a modernized Hindenburg (8 million cu ft). In the most virulent form of the disease, however, the victim calls for fleets of 100 million cu ft helium whales.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for balloonacy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA