I. bəˈlün noun
( -s )
Etymology: Italian dialect ballone (Italian pallone ), aug. of Italian dialect balla, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German balla ball — more at ball
1.
a.
(1) : a large inflated leather ball used in a now obsolete sport that involved striking and kicking the ball back and forth
(2) : the game formerly played with such a ball
b.
(1) : a bag of silk or other tough light material shaped usually like a sphere, made nonporous, and filled with heated air or a gas lighter than air : an aerostat without a propelling system — see free balloon , kite balloon , pilot balloon , sounding balloon
(2) : a small-necked inflatable bag of thin usually gaily colored rubber used as a toy
held a bright red balloon
2. : something resembling a balloon in contour, buoyancy, inflation, or insubstantiality: as
a. obsolete : a fireworks shell
b. : ball I 1j
c. : a spherical glass vessel usually with a short neck (as a receiver) or with a stopcock for use in weighing gases
d. : an area (as of a cartoon) in which presumed spoken words are printed or thoughts represented typically having a rounded outline and being connected with the speaker's or thinker's mouth by a single line
e. : balloon tire
f.
(1) : the ball-shaped mass of yarn strands produced in the mechanical spinning, twisting, or winding of thread as the strands pass between a guide and the revolving spool on which they are wound
(2) : a revolving cylindrical reel used in woolen warp drying
g. or balloon glass : snifter
3.
a. : outward appearance : show , display
punctured their balloon of confidence — Speed Lamkin
b. : a poorly substantiated or shallow attitude, belief, or assumption
dogmatists who take delight in shooting balloons and asking a man for proofs — Van Wyck Brooks
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to cause to assume a smooth rounded form by or as if by inflation : distend
a sudden breeze ballooning the spinnaker
he ballooned his cheeks in imitation of a fat lady
2. : to increase or augment usually beyond what is average, normal, or expected
a lusty increase in European consumption helped balloon prices — Wall Street Journal
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to ascend or travel in a balloon
in 1935 he had ballooned to a world's altitude record — Time
b. : to rise abruptly and become fully airborne in an airplane after the initial landing impact
c. of a young spider : to travel through the air supported by a strand of silk that catches the wind
2.
a. : to swell out into a smoothly rounded surface : belly out
the curtains ballooning in the morning breeze
b. : to issue or burst forth in or as if in rounded distended form
the fat mushroom of smoke that ballooned out of the mouth of the English chase guns — Frank Yerby
magniloquent phrases balloon from his lips — Neville Cardus
3. : to increase rapidly
clerical costs ballooned … in every department of business — Newsweek
: grow suddenly and beyond average proportion or normal expectation
the church's enrollment has ballooned 130% — Time
— sometimes used with out or up
houses in fashionable architectural styles ballooned up and expired in endless succession — T.H.Robsjohn-Gibbings
the young republic ballooned out to its present proportions in a few decades
III. adjective
1. : of, relating to, resembling, or suggesting a balloon especially in contour or silhouette
a balloon sleeve
a balloon figure
a balloon sail
2. of cargo : consisting of light bulky goods
3. : having a final installment that is much larger than preceding ones in a term or installment loan
a balloon note
a balloon payment mortgage