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单词 air
释义

airn.1

Brit. /ɛː/, U.S. /ɛ(ə)r/
Forms: Middle English aere, Middle English ayere, Middle English eeir, Middle English eeyre, Middle English eir, Middle English eire, Middle English ere, Middle English eyar, Middle English eyir, Middle English eyr, Middle English hayr, Middle English heiere, Middle English heir, Middle English heyer, Middle English heyr, Middle English 1700s–1800s English regional (northern) hair, Middle English–1500s eyer, Middle English–1500s eyre, Middle English–1500s haire, Middle English–1600s aer, Middle English–1600s aier, Middle English–1600s ayer, Middle English–1600s ayr, Middle English–1600s (1900s– historical, in sense 10) ayre, Middle English–1700s aire, Middle English– air, 1500s eayre, 1500s eyere, 1500s ire, 1500s yeyre, 1600s aër, 1600s–1700s eare, 1800s yare (English regional (Shropshire)); also Scottish pre-1700 aeir, pre-1700 aire, pre-1700 are, pre-1700 ayer, pre-1700 ayr, pre-1700 ayre, pre-1700 eare, 1900s– aer (Orkney), 1900s– ere (Orkney), 1900s– err (Glasgow).
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French air.
Etymology: Originally (in branch I.) < Anglo-Norman aeir, aier, eire, eyer, heir, heyr, heyre, Anglo-Norman and Old French aire, eir, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French aer, air, Middle French ayer, ayr (French air ) the invisible gaseous substance which envelops the earth and is breathed by all land animals (beginning of the 12th cent. in Anglo-Norman), the atmosphere as a whole (second half of the 12th cent. in Anglo-Norman), contaminated atmosphere, miasma (end of the 12th cent. or earlier), air as one of the four (or more) elements (first half of the 13th cent. or earlier), air in motion, wind, breeze (1275), odour, redolence, the ‘atmosphere’ perceived to be diffused by anything (first half of the 14th cent. or earlier), public exposure or currency, publicity (16th cent. in voir l'air to be publicly disseminated; compare donner de l'air à to make (a fact) known (1611 in Cotgrave)), (in chemistry) any gas or vapour (17th cent.) < classical Latin āēr air as a substance, especially as one of the four elements, air, atmosphere, the open air, sky, expanse of air, space, climate, air current, breeze, mist, cloud, odour, scent, in post-classical Latin also breath, spirit (4th cent.) < ancient Greek ἀήρ mist, haze, lower air, air in general, atmosphere, the open air, of uncertain origin. Compare Old Occitan aer (a1150), air (a1168), aire (late 12th cent; Occitan aire ), Catalan aire , †aer (both late 13th cent.), Spanish aire (13th cent. or earlier as †ayre , †aer ), Portuguese ar (13th cent. as †aar , †aire , †ayre ), Italian aire (a1276; a1226 as †aere ; now archaic or poetic, and largely superseded by aria (a1312; < classical Latin āera , variant form of accusative singular of āēr (after ancient Greek ἀέρα , accusative singular of ἀήρ )). Branches II. and IV. show later reborrowings < French. In branch II. < Middle French, French air melody, tune, song (1578 denoting a piece of music for a solo voice), specific use of air atmospheric substance after Italian aria (1550 in same sense), transferred use of aria external appearance (see below); with the semantic development compare mode n., manner n. 16, wise n.1 2. Compare later aria n. In branch IV. < Middle French, French air external appearance (of a person), facial expression, mien (1580), outward appearance, apparent character or manner (end of the 16th cent. or earlier), affected appearance, show (although this is apparently first attested slightly later: 1680 or earlier), specific use of air atmospheric substance (compare quot. a1616 at sense 13a and the transferred senses of atmosphere n.), perhaps after Italian aria external appearance (a1374, originally in spec. sense ‘facial expression, mien’), appearance or semblance in general (c1500), of which the further origin is uncertain and disputed (see below).Italian aria external appearance is probably < Middle French aire kind, sort, character, nature (c1100 in Old French in de put aire of a bad sort, of bad character; frequently in de bon aire , de bonne aire debonair adj.), specific sense development of aire nest of a bird of prey (see eyrie n., and compare discussion at that entry), but was identified with its homonym aria ‘invisible gaseous substance’ early on. Compare the earlier Italian synonym †aere appearance, facial expression (a1306 as are ), disposition, character, nature (a1328 as àre ; < Old French, Middle French aire ) which is rare after the first half of the 14th cent., and obsolete by the late 16th cent. Alternatively, it has been suggested that Italian aria external appearance is simply a spec. sense development of aria atmospheric substance: see further M. Cortelazzo and P. Zolli Diz. etimol. della lingua italiana (ed. 2, 1999) at aria. In to take the air at sense 5a after Old French prendre l'air (14th cent.; French prendre l'air ). In to give oneself airs at Phrases 1a and to put on airs at Phrases 1b after French se donner des airs (1690), prendre des airs (1694) respectively; compare French prendre de grands airs , se donner de grands airs (1688). In sense 12 apparently after French air any of the movements of a horse (although this is apparently first attested slightly later: 1611 in Cotgrave; now only in plural airs ); with high air and low air compare French airs relevés (plural) positions of a horse in which its feet leave the ground (1690; 1636 in singular †air relevé ), opposed to airs bas (plural) positions of a horse in which it stays close to the ground (1751; 1636 in singular †air bas ). With in the air at Phrases 2b compare French cela est dans l'air it is characteristic of a place (1835), (in later use) it is generally known (1878). In to be in the air (compare Phrases 2c) after French être en l'air (1721 in military use; now rare). The forms yare , yeyre show initial j -glide (see J. Wright Eng. Dial. Gram. (1905) 58/2, and compare e.g. yearth at earth n.1). For earlier use of classical Latin āēr (denoting one of the four elements: compare sense 2a) in an English context compare the following:OE Ælfric De Temporibus Anni (Cambr. Gg.3.28) x. §2. 72 Feower gesceafta sind þe ealle eorðlice lichaman on wuniað, þæt sind Aer, Ignis, Terra, Aqua. Aer is lyft.OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. i. 84 Þa feower gesceaft synd þus geciged: aer, ignis, aqua, terra. On the collocation wicked air in quots. c1425, ?a1425 at sense 1a see E. G. Stanley Malaria in Lydgate's Troy Book in Notes & Queries 252 239–40 and compare later malaria n.
I. Atmospheric air.
1.
a. An atmosphere contaminated by noxious fumes, vapours, etc.; such contaminating fumes themselves; miasma. Now only (with qualifying adjective) merged in sense 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [noun] > fumes or vapour > noxious vapour or gas
reekeOE
air?c1225
damp1480
mephitis1625
smoke1648
effluvium1656
fume1665
miasma1665
mephitic1802
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 83 Of þicke eir in hire hus & of uuele þinges stenh oðerhwile oðer strong breað iþe nase.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 183 To voyden awey all wykkede eyres & corrupciouns.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 761 From engenderyng of al corrupcioun, From wikked eyr & from infeccioun.
a1500 in Memorials St. Edmund's Abbey (1896) 3 246 (MED) Þe aier and þe pestelence þat hathe long regned in oure said universite.
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 119 Some pestylent & corrupt ayre.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. iv. 72 The aire arising out of it so noysome and pestiferous for birds.
1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes II. ix. 1554 These Ilands are..subject to the disease, called The aire, which they cure with Elephants dung.
1714 A. Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) ii. 15 Suck the Mists in grosser Air below.
1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing (rev. ed.) i. 16 His goods are spoiled by foul air and gas fumes.
†b. Odour, redolence; the ‘atmosphere’ perceived to be diffused by anything. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > [noun]
smacka1000
breathOE
smella1175
irea1300
weffea1300
thefa1325
relesec1330
odour?c1335
incensea1340
flair1340
savoura1350
smellingc1386
flavourc1400
fumec1400
reflairc1400
air?a1439
scent?1473
taste?c1475
verdure1520
senteur1601
waft1611
effluvium1656
fluor1671
burning scent1681
aura1732
fumet1735
snuff1763
olfacient1822
odouret1825
waff1827
gush1841
sniff1844
tang1858
nose1894
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. 2262 (MED) The air off metis and off baudi cookis, Which off custum alday roste and seede.
c1450 Med. Recipes (BL Add. 33996) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 69 (MED) When hit is ryȝt wel boyled y nowȝ, holde vp þy mowþe þer ouer, & let þe eyre [a1500 Sloane 3153 fume] þer of in to þy þrote.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1928) vii. 31 With floures of all goodly ayre.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxv. f. lxxxxiiiiv All myghte not stoppe the Intollerable Ire of his Body.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccccxxiii. 741 The kyng disloged fro Rosbeque, bycause of the eyre of the dead bodyes.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 169 The theeuish dog..hunting Conies by the aire.
2.
a. The invisible gaseous substance which immediately surrounds the earth, is breathed by all terrestrial animals, and is now recognized as a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, with smaller amounts of other substances; (History of Science and Astrology) this as one of the four or more elements of ancient and medieval philosophy (cf. element n. 1a, 9a, ether n. 1, also air sign n. (b) at Compounds 2). Also †figurative: something insubstantial or impalpable (obsolete).Air was formerly thought of as a single substance. Knowledge of the physics and mechanics of air dates from the mid 17th cent., and of its composition from the late 18th cent.The average composition (by volume) of dry air at sea level is: nitrogen 78.08 per cent, oxygen 20.95 per cent, argon 0.93 per cent, carbon dioxide 0.03 per cent, with traces of other noble gases. Typically, air also contains variable amounts of water vapour and traces of pollutants. The composition of air remains broadly constant with increasing height through the troposphere (which contains about 75 per cent of the atmosphere by mass), stratosphere, and mesosphere, to an altitude of about 50 miles (85 km), at which height the pressure is less than one ten-thousandth of that at sea level.compressed, hot air: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > [noun]
windc1250
airc1300
windiness1587
blore?1614
ethereal1661
ambient1677
ether1713
Ewigkeit1877
c1300 St. Michael (Harl.) in T. Wright Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841) 134 The four elementz, of wham we beoþ i-wroȝt. Next the mone the fur in hext.., Their is thanne bynethe next, and taketh their to grounde.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) 33 As the plover doth of aire, I live, and am in good espeire.
?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 433 Stop hit well that no eyre goo oute.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 768 In his substaunce ys but aire.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 776 Whan a pipe is blowen sharpe The aire ys twyst with violence And rent.
?a1500 in G. Henslow Med. Wks. 14th Cent. (1899) 3 (MED) Keuer hit so þat non eyre com þer-to.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) ix. f. 119v Scarce hir toong the ayer [L. aere] hitts.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 150 These our actors..Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxiv. 207 Aire, and aeriall substances, use not to be taken for Bodies, but..are called Wind, or Breath.
1665 R. South Serm. preached before Court 15 Entertain'd onely with the Air of Words and Metaphors.
1666 R. Boyle in Philos. Trans. 1665–6 (Royal Soc.) 1 232 The Scales..were not able to shew me all the variations of the Air's weight, that appear'd in the Mercurial Baroscope.
1749 T. Salmon New Geogr. & Hist. Gram. 182 After the Whale has run some hundred Fathoms deep, he is forced to come up for Air.
1766 Philos. Trans. 1765 (Royal Soc.) 55 154 Evaporation is vastly promoted by a current of fresh air passing over the exhaling surface.
1799 R. R. Livingston Let. 26 Jan. in T. Jefferson Papers (2003) XXX. 655 The air will rush into it, to supply the vacuum.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xxv. 362 The gentle flow of a current of air.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 39 As transparent, as colourless, as invisible as the air we breathe.
1933 A. W. Barton Text Bk. Heat vii. 154 A little ether is poured into the left-hand tube and is caused to evaporate by drawing bubbles of air through it.
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 28 Mar. 744/1 She was found to be in acute respiratory distress, gasping for air.
1985 D. Simmons Song of Kali (1986) xvi. 285 The Parsees, a dwindling minority in India, hold earth, air, fire, and water all as sacred.
b. The atmosphere regarded as the medium through which broadcast radio waves travel; (hence) radio or television broadcasting.Chiefly in fixed phrases and compounds: cf. airtime n. 1a, 1b, air wave n. 2, free-to-air at free adj. 24b, off-air adj. and adv., on-air adj., over the air adv. and adj.University of the Air: see university n. Phrases 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > the air as medium
ether1917
air1922
1897 Strand Mag. Mar. 276/2 The wave which went to my receiver through the air was also affecting another receiver..on the other side of a hill.]
1922 F. H. Koch Carolina Folk-Plays p. xxii George Denny..is President of New York's Town Hall and director of the NBC ‘Town Hall of the Air’, which he founded.
1955 Times 9 May 10/5 Radio and, particularly, television will play a large part in the election, and the campaign of the air has already begun.
1957 D. Edgar in J. E. Lewis Mammoth Bk. War Correspondents (2001) 451 The Anglo-French convoy was being closely shadowed by the Americans and the air had been filled with tough, rude radio exchanges.
1999 Financial Times 9 Oct. (Weekend section) p. vi/1 Channel 4 and BBC2, once the culture-sentries of the air, have drastically cut their shopping list for foreign films.
3.
a. Frequently with the. The whole body of air surrounding the earth; the atmosphere as a whole, or that which is in a person's immediate surroundings; the (apparently) free or unconfined space above the surface of the earth or above one's head. Also figurative. †to build in the air: to form (an expectation) on no solid basis (obsolete); cf. castle in the air n. at castle n. 11.See also mid-air n., open air n., upper air n. at upper adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air above our heads
liftOE
airc1300
weathera1400
c1300 St. Michael (Harl.) in T. Wright Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841) 135 The sterren beoth heȝe above, for their is swithe heȝ.
c1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 7642 Ane other heven es called þe ayre..þar þe foghles has flyght.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. i. l. 123 Somme in eyre, somme in erthe & somme in helle depe.
1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) ii. sig. Aijv/1 Thenne draweth the sonne humours vp in to the ayre.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) ii. ii. 100 The stormy clowdis our al the ayr gan rowt.
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 69 Abowte Ester was sene in Sussex three sonnes shenynge at one tyme in the eyer, that thei cowde not dysserne wych shulde be the very sonne.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. iv. 98 Who buildes his hopes in aire of your faire lookes. View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Ecclus. x. 20 A bird of the aire shall carry the voyce. View more context for this quotation
1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea Pref. The Romanes had shut up the Rivers and Lands, and in a manner the very Aër.
1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. F3v While their sublimed spirits daunce i' th' Ayr.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 553. ¶3 To suspend our Coffee in mid-air, between our Lips and right Ear.
1792 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina (new ed.) iii. iii. 352 The air felt cool and animating.
1842 H. W. Longfellow Not always May in Ballads & Other Poems 109 The sun is bright,—the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing.
a1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. (1878) x. 311 The upper air of poetry is the atmosphere of sorrow.
1894 A. B. Gomme Trad. Games I. 13 Children throw a ball in the air, repeating the rhyme, and divine the length of their lives by the number of times they can catch it again.
1938 W. S. Churchill Let. 8 Jan. in W. S. Churchill & C. S. Churchill Speaking for Themselves (1999) xix. 445 Here I am in radiant sunshine though there is a nip in the air.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. xxiii. 455 The ice expanding in the frozen earth presses the plant roots upwards into the air.
1992 C. Chambers Uncertain Terms (1993) xv. 133 The rain storm had died down by now and the air was warm and balmy.
2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 23 Apr. ii. 10/1 Flocks of roosting birds that take to the air as a group and fly away in different directions.
b. The air regarded as the medium for operation of aircraft; (also) aircraft or aerial power collectively. by air: by means of (an) aircraft. Very common in combinations: see Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > power of aircraft or forces
air power1908
air1917
air punch1940
society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > [adverb] > by aeroplane
by air1917
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > used in warfare > collective as military power
air1917
1917 Ld. Fisher Let. 11 July in R. H. S. Bacon Life Ld. F. (1929) II. xxi. 303 The air is going to win the war.
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 111 Occasionally the Flying Corps officer is able to substitute an excursion by air..if..a bus of the type already flown by him must be chauffeured across the Channel.
1919 Daily Tel. 19 Feb. 12/6 (headline) Heroes of the Air.
1922 W. Raleigh War in Air I. 467 The hope of using the torpedo, launched from the air, against ships which are sheltered and protected from naval attack.
1944 C. Beaton Diary in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xiv. 121 Transport becomes impossible and essential supplies have to be dropped by air.
1945 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 27 Sept.–13 Mar. 54 Our land-based air was very thin indeed.
1946 ‘G. Orwell’ in Horizon Apr. 261 Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air.
1996 Economist 17 Aug. 22/3 Sending goods by air..is ever more important to companies trying to meet just-in-time delivery deadlines.
2003 S.W.A.T. May 9/2 If the suspects had fired on officers, the ground units could have been supported from the air by someone trained to return fire from the helo.
c. In BMX biking, skateboarding, snowboarding, etc.: an aerial manoeuvre or jump. Also as a mass noun: the height achieved during such a manoeuvre, as in to get big air, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > skateboarding > [noun] > technique or stunt
slalom1976
wheelie1976
kick flip1977
wedeling1977
invert1979
ollie1979
air1984
nose-pick1988
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > racing with vehicles > bicycle race > [noun] > specific manoeuvre
air1984
sweeper1986
1984 B. Osborn Compl. Bk. BMX 208 (caption) Double airs by the BMX ACTION trick team.
1994 Snowboard UK Dec. 72/2 The newest type of moves..[are] smooth controlled airs.
1997 Skiing (Electronic ed.) Feb. 98 Practice catching some air.
2001 N.Y. Times 4 Jan. d5/5 Skier speeds have picked up..and everybody is getting big air on their jumps.
2002 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 19 Aug. 18 b Burnquist landed a switchstance frontside air across the gap on a 360-degree ramp.
4. A special state, condition, or quality of the atmosphere, as affected by temperature, moisture, etc., or as modified by time or place.country, desert, mountain, native, night air, etc.: see the first element. change of air: see change n. Phrases 2.
ΚΠ
c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 564 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 447 (MED) For-to soiorni elles-ȝware, þare betere eir to him were.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 135 West Contreyes & londes haueþ nouȝt eir parfitly temporat in hete and in humour.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 12 (MED) Aer, mete & drynk..þese beeþ þe cause of al þe sekenesse & of helþe.
1479 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 618 Ye wyllyd me..to hast me ought of the heyer that I am jn..her must I be for a season.
1529 T. Wolsey in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1880) 10 I must be removyd to some other dryer ayer.
1583 B. Rich Phylotus & Emelia (1835) 13 It was very good for ill Ayres in a mornyng.
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. D3v This ayre is pleasant, and doth please me well, And here I will stay.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar ii. 57 The spirits of the body have been bound up by the cold winter ayre.
1656 J. Hammond Leah & Rachel (1844) 10 Change of ayre does much alter the state of our bodies.
1703 London Gaz. mmmdccccxxi/1 To remove from the Vatican to his Palace at Monte Cavallo, as being a better Air.
1717 A. Pope Poems 116 Contented breaths his native air, In his own grounds.
1751 T. Gray Elegy xiv. 8 Full many a Flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its Sweetness on the desart Air.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. viii. 61 Mrs. Leslie..said nothing, except in kindly remonstrance on the indiscretion of braving the night air.
1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) II. 298 As soon as [they]..can travel, they must both have change of air.
1989 G. Daly Pre-Raphaelites in Love ii. 41 ‘A change of air’, the pathetic fall-back of the Victorian physician, who had few more effective remedies at his disposal.
1993 S. Marshall Nest of Magpies (1994) i. 7 Every now and then I thought of the huge skies and longed for a whiff or two of my native air to invigorate me.
5.
a. Air regarded as necessary for well-being; the fresh air of outdoors, as distinct from the stale air of confined spaces. Frequently in to take the air (now somewhat archaic or literary).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun]
aira1393
fresh air1525
country air1595
fresco1620
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > ventilation and air-conditioning > [noun] > fresh or clean air
aira1393
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. 1215 (MED) Diogenes..therinne sitte scholde And torne himself so as he wolde, To take their and se the hevene.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 8349 (MED) In his werynes Hym to refresche & to taken eyr.
c1440 Generydes 1984 The Sowdon toke the waye, Owt of the Cite to take the ayre.
a1500 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 15th Cent. (1939) 273 (MED) As I walkyd vppone a day To take þe aere off feld and flowre.
a1513 H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Radegunde (c1525) sig. cviiv At her chamber windo to take ayre.
1588 R. Greene Pandosto sig. Fv The King would go abroad to take the ayre.
1623 P. Massinger Duke of Millaine iii. ii. sig. G4 Say, I am rid Abrode to take the ayre.
1697 T. Dilke City Lady ii. 18 Never takes the Air but with a fresh Set of Jewels,—has her Bed warm'd every Night, with Charcoal made of Rosemary stalks, besprinkl'd with Essence of Oranges.
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. x. 151 He goes to take the air for the afternoon.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 140 To give me Air in hot Weather as I slept.
1766 A. Nicol Poems Several Subj. 43 He trysted me one evening fair, Among the groves to take the air.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice II. xii. 136 She resolved soon after breakfast to indulge herself in air and exercise. View more context for this quotation
1885 Manch. Examiner 12 Jan. 6/1 There were the Infirmary convalescents taking the air.
1923 T. Hardy Famous Trag. Queen of Cornwall 15 I went to take the air, being qualmed to death.
1994 A. L. Kennedy Now that you're Back 236 What I would like is to take myself out for a walk, get some air.
2000 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Mar. 110/1 In the square, young couples and old people taking the air and making the paseo (‘promenade’).
b. U.S. Chiefly in classified advertisements: air conditioning, esp. in a car or other vehicle. Cf. central air n. at central adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > ventilation and air-conditioning > [noun]
ventilation1664
ventilating1743
air conditioning1909
central air conditioning1923
central air1955
AC1962
air-con1970
air1974
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > air-conditioning
air conditioning1909
air cooling1909
air1974
1974 Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 19 Apr. 10 b/7 (advt.) 1972 Buick LeSabre Four Door Custom, fully equipped including air.
1989 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman 29 Apr. c15 (advt.) L/bed, auto, air, AM/FM cass., cruise, tilt.
1992 Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times 21 Jan. 22/6 (advt.) Honda Prelude SI, 5-speed, air, cruise, sunroof, excellent condition.
6. Air in motion; a current or draught of air; (esp. in the context of sailing) a breeze, a light wind.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun]
air1535
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > gentle wind
auraa1398
breathc1400
air1535
gentle gale1567
zephyr1567
pirriea1614
breeze1626
gentle breeze1635
pirra1722
gale1728
zephyret1777
spill1899
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ezek. xxxvii. 9 Come (o thou ayre) from the foure wyndes, & blowe vpon these slayne.
1598 R. Tofte Alba i. sig. C7v No calme Aire of gentle Loue doth blow.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. iv. 22 Bring with thee ayres from heauen, or blasts from hell.
1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island viii. i. 107 When cooler ayers gently 'gan to blow.
1709 A. Pope Spring in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. 723 Let Vernal Airs thro' trembling Osiers play.
1790 R. Beatson Naval & Mil. Mem. II. 56 They met with light airs of wind.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. (1856) xiv. 106 To crowd on the canvas, and sail with gentle airs for about two miles.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar xvi. 267 On a fine summer evening, with a light air from the south.
1917 Kingston (N.Y.) Daily Freeman 16 June 5/1 (advt.) The..large windows give as much or as little free-blowing air as you desire.
1955 Times 9 May 14/4 The later competitors found the wind dying away to the lightest of airs as evening came.
1998 Yachts & Yachting 21 Aug. 62/1 In light airs, TOD greatly favours faster boats while in strong winds they may find it impossible to win.
†7.
a. Breath; also figurative. Obsolete. popular air [after classical Latin populāris aura (Horace Odes 3. 2. 20)] : the breath of popular applause.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > hint or covert suggestion > [noun]
feelc1485
inkling1529
intimation1531
insinuation1532
by-warning1542
byword1542
item1561
cue1565
air1567
vent1613
insusurration1614
hinta1616
injection1622
indication1626
infusion1641
side glance1693
ground bass1699
touch1706
side view1747
sidewipe1757
allusion1766
penumbra1770
breath1795
slyness1823
by-hint1853
light1854
shove1857
suggestion1863
sous-entendu1865
point1870
sidewiper1870
sniff1936
the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > breathing > [noun] > breath
ghosteOE
bleadc890
ethemeOE
windOE
fnastc1000
breathOE
blas?c1225
blasta1325
andec1330
respiration?a1425
breast1535
air1567
respirea1657
puff1827
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > quality of being approvable or acceptable > popularity > [noun]
popularity1574
vogue1617
populacy1687
popular air1710
1567 G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello Certaine Tragicall Disc. f. 76v Bedewed as yet wyth the wet soddes of his wicked mother, sprauling & breathing with a litell ayre of lyfe [Fr. panthelant; It. palpitante].
a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. K3v But can my ayre of life continue long.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. iii. 78 Still me thinkes There is an ayre comes from her. What fine Chizzell Could euer yet cut breath..I will kisse her.
1665 J. Spencer Disc. Vulgar Prophecies 114 There being not the least air of any promise of Prophecy made.
1710 S. Palmer Moral Ess. Prov. 123 A man of a weak judgment is soonest over-set by popular air.
b. A communication, esp. of confidential information. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > [noun] > private
intelligence1549
air1622
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > [noun] > a disclosure > of something discreditable
air1622
exposition1649
exposé1809
show-up1824
exposure1826
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 239 The Aires, which the Princes and States abroad received from their Ambassadors.
1660 R. Coke Justice Vindicated i. 14 A kind of divine ayre informing men of their truth.
†8. Public exposure or currency; publicity. to take air: (of information) to spread about, become generally known. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current
springOE
spreadc1300
to go abouta1325
quicka1400
risea1400
runa1400
walkc1400
stir1423
voice1429
fly1480
to go abroad1513
to come abroad1525
wandera1547
divulge1604
to get abroad1615
to take aira1616
to make (also do) the rounds1669
to get about1740
reach1970
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. iv. 129 Pursue him now, least the deuice take ayre . View more context for this quotation
1662 A. Marvell Let. 1 Apr. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 249 The businesse has got a litle too much aire.
1702 R. L'Estrange tr. Josephus Wars of Jews i. xi, in Wks. 767 For fear the Plot should take Air, and be Disappointed.
1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 166 But my Story getting Air, I was made the Scoff of every Body.
1736 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. IX. 10 Nothing that passed in the senate..was known abroad, or suffered to take air.
1798 M. A. Hanway Ellinor II. xvi. 427 If such an arrangement as you propose was to be acceded to by this poor girl, and..it was to take air, she must inevitable lose her character for ever.
1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico III. vi. iv. 85 Had he suffered his detection..of the guilty parties to take air.
1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. vii. 189 He would not make any fuss that might bring the thing out into the air.
9. Chemistry. Any gas or vapour. Frequently with distinguishing word. Now historical.dephlogisticated, fixed, hepatic, inflammable, mephitic, permanent, vital air, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [noun]
pneumatical1626
air1651
gas1669
aeriform1840
1651 J. French Art Distillation vi. 177 This..gold nature would have perfected into an elixir but was hindred by the crude aire, which crude aire is..nothing else but..sulphur.
a1727 I. Newton in E. Chambers Cycl. (1728) (at cited word) Gunpouder generates Air by Explosion.
1751 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) (at cited word) The difference between permanent and transient Air amounts to the same as that between vapour and exhalation.
1774 J. Priestley (title) Experiments and observations on different kinds of air.
1786 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 76 291 To examine the conducting powers of the artificial airs or gasses.
1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide iv. iii. 547 I should run into an endless digression, were I to enumerate possible physiological experiments with artificial airs.
1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. 30 The union of two airs, or gases is attended with their sudden conversion into the solid state.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. vii. 77 The use of a flask or jar inverted over water as a means of collecting and storing these elusive and intangible ‘airs’.
2000 F. L. Holmes in F. L. Holmes & T. H. Levere Instruments & Exper. Hist. Chem. vi. 138 These ‘pneumatic’ vessels had become indispensable, in the years just preceding Lavoisier's entry into the field, for the study of the various airs recently discovered.
II. Melody.
10.
a. A tune, a melody; a piece of music in which a single melodic line predominates, and which has little or no distinctive accompaniment; (sometimes) spec. a song with simple or unobtrusive accompaniment.Occasionally (esp. in early use) with suggestion of lightness or liveliness (cf. aria n.); also spec. (in Early Music also in form ayre) a song to be accompanied by the lute.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > melody or succession of sounds > [noun] > a melody
notec1300
warblec1374
moteta1382
tunea1387
measurea1393
modulationa1398
prolation?a1425
gammec1425
proportion?a1505
laya1529
stroke1540
diapason?1553
strain1579
cantus1590
stripe1590
diapase1591
air1597
pawson1606
spirit1608
melody1609
aria1742
refrain1795
toon1901
sounds1955
klangfarbenmelodie1959
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > [noun] > light or lively piece
toy1584
air1597
capriccio1696
port1721
divertimento1823
humoresque1869
bagatelle1880
caprice1880
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > types of song > [noun] > part-song > types of part-song
three-man('s) gleec1425
madrigal1584
villanellea1586
air1597
fa-la1597
villanella1597
glee1659
villotta1876
Napoletana1938
1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 180 These and all other kinds of light musick sauing the Madrigal are by a generall name called ayres.
1597 J. Dowland (title) The firste booke of songes or ayres of fowre partes with tableture for the lute.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies vi. xxviii. 493 With these instruments they made many kinds of Aires, & Songs [Sp. Hazian con ellos diversos sones, y eran muchos y varias los cantares].
1656 A. Cowley Misc. 29 in Poems Whilst Angels sing to thee their ayres divine.
1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 53 For Discords make the sweetest Airs, And Curses are a kind of Prayers.
1684 London Gaz. mdccccxlvii/4 Beginning with an Overture and some Aires for Violins.
1721 Visct. Bolingbroke in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 20 As fiddlers flourish carelessly, before they play a fine air.
1763 J. Brown Diss. Poetry & Music §12. 200 The Scotch Airs are perhaps the truest Model of artless and pathetic musical Expression, that can be found in the whole Compass of the Art.
1776 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music I. 74 The word air, or, as the Italians call it, aria,..includes a certain piece of music of a peculiar rhythm, or cadence.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 219 The very airs which I have the trick of whistling.
1871 W. Black Daughter of Heth I. xii. 196 That ‘Flowers of the Forest’ is a beautiful air, but you want it harmonised.
1880 J. Hullah in G. Grove Dict. Music I. 47 Technically, an air is a composition for a single voice or any monophonous instrument, accompanied by other voices or by instruments.
1910 D. Macdonald Irish Music 3 The Ancient Irish used the gapped scale in many of their airs.
1981 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Oct. 1243/4 The more educated sang chamber music, including..English ayres and Italian and English madrigals.
1991 J. Caldwell Oxf. Hist. Eng. Music I. vii. 424 The sixth book consists entirely of church music except for the air of a canzo in honour of Princess Elizabeth.
2000 Vancouver Province (Nexis) 28 Mar. b5 An album of lively airs and reels played with passion and the impeccably high standards of musicianship this band always displays.
b. That part of a harmonized musical composition which predominates and gives it its character; the melody. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > [noun] > part in harmony or counterpoint > melody or ground
plainsonga1450
ground1592
melody1728
cantilena1740
canto1782
canto fermo1789
air1813
cantus firmus1847
cantus1887
musica plana1940
1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia (at cited word) Frequently, the principal vocal part is called the air.
1860 J. Brown Let. to J. Cairns 15 Aug. in Horæ Subsecivæ (1861) 2nd Ser. 321 A man chooses his friends from harmony, not from sameness, just as we would rather sing in parts than all sing the air.
1908 F. S. Dellenbaugh Canyon Voy. 73 A pretty four-part song, The Laugh of a Child, of which he sang the air.
1930 H. G. Kinscella Music & Romance i. vii. 72 The first violin—the only member of the quartet which has not sung the air—now takes up the melody in a simple repetition with only slight embellishment.
1951 M. L. Wolf Dict. Arts 128 Cantamento,..(2) the principal air, melody or theme of any musical composition.
11. As a mass noun: melody; (also) mode (mode n. 1c); (more generally) the feeling or atmosphere of a musical composition; the quality of having a pleasing progression of sounds, or of otherwise satisfying the ear. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [noun] > beauty of sound or melody
melodyc1300
harmonyc1384
sweetness1398
melodiousness1530
tunableness1561
well-sounding1594
air1597
chime1608
suavity1614
melos1740
songfulness1850
tunefulness1882
tuniness1905
1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 147 Euery key hath a peculiar ayre proper vnto it selfe, so that if you goe into another then that wherein you begun, you change the aire of the song.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 183 Your tongues sweete aire More tunable then larke, to sheepeheards eare. View more context for this quotation
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice v. i. 76 If they but heare perchance a trumpet sound, or any ayre of musique touch their eares. View more context for this quotation
1636 C. Butler Princ. Musik i. iii. § 81 The mainteining of the Air, or Tone of the Song, in his Partes.
1694 H. Purcell Playford's Introd. Skill Musick (ed. 12) iii. sig. I2 His Rule in Three Parts for Counterpoint is too strict and destructive to good Air, which ought to be preferred before such nice Rules.
c1710 R. North Musical Grammarian (draft) (MS BL Add. 32537) in G. Strahle Early Mus. Dict. (1996) 8/2 Nothing is so comon as to hear it say'd It may be good Musick, but there is no aire in it.
1749 J. Mason Ess. Power of Numbers & Princ. Harmony 32 How is it possible to accommodate the Quantity of the Notes to that of the Syllables, without spoiling the Air and Time of the Tune?
1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music ii. 131 By the addition of too much Air by which these Masters deprived Harmony of its absolute supremacy, they robbed Church Music of its ancient solemnity.
1850 W. Mure Hist. Lang. & Lit. Greece III. 37 The term Nome appears..to have borne a more immediate reference to the music or air, than the poetry or words, of a song.
1880 J. Hullah in G. Grove Dict. Music I. 46 In common parlance air is rhythmical melody—any kind of melody of which the feet are of the same duration, and the phrases bear some recognisable proportion one to another.
1973 Jrnl. Amer. Musicol. Soc. 26 96 Necessary to air are measure and melody. Melody differs from air in being only one of air's constituent parts.
III. Dressage.
12. Any of the movements performed in advanced dressage. low air: a position of the horse in which it stays close to the ground. high air: a position of the horse in which its feet leave the ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > special movements performed by trained horse > [noun]
manage1577
air1607
manège1768
action1805
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice ii. xv. 164 Without it a horse can neither manage, turned vpon either hand, or doe any other ayre or salt with beautie or comlines.
1641 R. Greville Disc. Nature Episcopacie i. ii. 5 Those Horses which are designed to a lofty Ayre, and generous manage, must be of a Noble race.
c1721 W. Gibson True Method dieting Horses ii. 35 He never saw Horses go so well as they; all Sorts of Aires, as well for the Manage de Guerre..as in the Leaps.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Salts A Step and a Salt is an high Air, wherein the Horse rising, makes a Curvet between Two Salts.
1801 W. Frazer tr. F. R. de la Guérinière Treat. Horsemanship v. 54 The terre a terre is properly enough placed amongst the low airs, because it really is performed near the ground; yet it is the foundation of all the high airs, because all the leaps are generally performed..like the terre a terre.
1885 T. A. Dodge Patroclus & Penelope 58 Horses educated in all the School airs which are applicable to road-riding.
1932 R. B. Cunninghame Graham Writ in Sand 17 She touched her horse upon the shoulder gently, putting him through all the airs of the manège.
1987 Horse Internat. Mar. 3/3 Our Lusitanos were so happy in their work and so established in their changes, pirouettes, collected work, airs and so on, that they gave the riders enormous satisfaction.
1994 T. Boucher tr. F. R. de La Guérinière School of Horsemanship 105 The pesade is an air in which the horse elevates its forehand in place, without advancing.
IV. Appearance, manner.
13. Outward appearance, impression, or look; apparent character or manner.
a. With qualifying adjective or of, expressing the character, quality, or (usually abstract) thing of which another gives the impression.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > appearance or aspect > [noun]
onseneeOE
bleea1000
shapeOE
ylikeOE
laitc1175
semblanta1225
sightc1275
fare1297
showingc1300
specea1325
parelc1330
guise1340
countenance1362
semblance?a1366
apparel1377
regardc1380
apparencec1384
imagec1384
spicec1384
overseeminga1398
kenninga1400
seemingc1400
visage1422
rinda1450
semenauntc1450
'pearance1456
outwardc1475
representation1489
favour?a1500
figurea1522
assemblant1523
prospect?1533
respect1535
visure1545
perceiverance1546
outwardshine1549
view1556
species1559
utter-shape1566
look1567
physiognomy1567
face1572
paintry1573
visor1575
mienc1586
superficies?1589
behaviour1590
aspect1594
complexion1597
confrontment1604
show1604
aira1616
beseeminga1616
formality1615
resemblancea1616
blush1620
upcomea1630
presentment1637
scheme1655
sensation1662
visibility1669
plumage1707
facies1727
remark1748
extrinsica1797
exterior1801
showance1820
the cut of one's jib1823
personnel1839
personal appearance1842
what-like1853
look-see1898
outwall1933
visuality1938
prosopon1947
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 731 Seest thou not the ayre of the Court, in these enfoldings?.. Receiues not thy Nose Court-Odour from me? View more context for this quotation
1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 30 Nothing that had the least Air of Acknowledgment.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 5. ⁋7 Writing in an Air of common Speech.
1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. ii. 53 Whatever has the air of a paradox.
a1817 J. Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) II. vi. 91 The air of the room altogether far from uncheerful. View more context for this quotation
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 25 Some have at a distance quite the air of a gentleman's mansion.
1864 D. G. Mitchell Seven Stories 201 The postillion gives his hat a jaunty air.
1911 G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma Pref. p. xlv A popular outcry for the suppression of a method of research which has an air of being scientific.
1947 E. Berridge Sel. Stories 43 It had a private and masculine air about it which did not entirely derive from the Alken sporting prints on the walls, or the close fragrance of tobacco.
1981 R. Scruton Fortnight's Anger iv. 104 The room had the air of a proseuche: it seemed as though one should kneel at the little desk, and bow one's head before the photograph of the family at Weymouth.
2000 Hist. Today May 13/1 Given the general air of mystery surrounding his life, it is not surprising that Druitt was the preferred candidate of many Ripperologists.
†b. Without qualification or following construction. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1630 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime (new ed.) i. 4 For feare the Heretiques of England should..say, he changed his ayre for profit, not conscience.
1647 Bp. J. Taylor Θεολογία Ἐκλεκτική §4. 77 Unlesse other mens understandings were of the same ayre—the same constitution and ability.
14.
a. A person's demeanour, bearing, or appearance; movement of the body expressing feelings.
†(a) Without qualification or following construction. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > demeanour or bearing
i-bereOE
i-letelOE
lundc1175
semblanta1240
countenancec1290
fare1297
porturec1300
bearinga1325
portc1330
abearc1350
demeaning14..
habit1413
apporta1423
havingsa1425
maintenance?c1436
demeanc1450
maintain?1473
deport1474
maintaining1477
demeanance1486
affair1487
containing1487
behaviour1490
representation1490
haviour?1504
demeanour1509
miena1522
function1578
amenance1590
comportance1590
portance1590
purport1590
manage1593
style1596
dispose1601
deportments1603
comportment1605
garb1605
aira1616
deportment1638
comport1660
tour1702
sway1753
disport1761
maintien1814
tenue1828
portment1833
allure1841
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun]
beckoningc1380
wevingc1440
gesturing1542
gesture1545
gesture1551
becking1569
gesturement1597
gesticulation1603
air1714
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 127 Your Fathers Image is so hit in you (His very ayre) that I should call you Brother. View more context for this quotation
1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Ded. Unless He sees upon us the Air and Features..of Christ our Elder Brother.
1714 A. Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) ii. 16 Assist their Blushes, and inspire their Airs.
1714 E. Budgell Spectator No. 605. ⁋8 Married Persons..catch the Air and way of Talk from one another.
1822 Ld. Byron Heaven & Earth i. ii, in Liberal 1 172 But her air, If not her words, tells me she loves another.
(b) With qualifying adjective or of, expressing the personal quality, emotion, or impression conveyed by a person's manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > demeanour or bearing > as expressive of feelings or opinion
semblancea1400
fashions1569
air1663
1663 S. Tuke Adventures of Five Hours i. 8 I perceiv'd an Air of Joy enlighten His manly Face.
1691 R. Ames Female Fire-ships 11 With such an air of Impudence they tread.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 118. ⁋2 Her confident shall treat you with an Air of Distance.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. ii. vii. 256 Determine at once, with a decisive Air.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. v. 172 His person was manly and his air military.
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 99 He turned from the lady..with an air of disgust.
1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 195 He tossed off the brandy and water with a triumphant air.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Strange Case Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde 23 Mr. Hyde..fronted about with an air of defiance.
1919 Outing Mar. 308/3 We kept on waiting with an air of disinterestedness for a breeze or something favorable.
1962 S. Wynter Hills of Hebron xv. 185 He would deal with Moses as his teachers at school had dealt with him—the stony silence, the air of grim judgment.
1983 A. Bleasdale Shop Thy Neighbour xxiv. 130 Moss has the desperate air of a man no longer in control and no longer caring.
1999 R. Deakin Waterlog (2000) xiii. 154 They suddenly appeared from nowhere, bearing down on our little unofficial combo with a determined air.
†b. Disposition, mood. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > state of feeling or mood > [noun]
moodOE
cheerc1225
affecta1398
statec1450
mindc1460
stomach1476
spiritc1480
humour1525
vein1577
frame1579
tune1600
tempera1628
transport1658
air1678
tift1717
disposition1726
spite1735
tonea1751
1678 H. Vaughan Thalia Rediviva 60 The short-liv'd bliss Of air and Humour.
1728 J. Morgan Compl. Hist. Algiers I. v. 320 I am well acquainted with the very Airs, the innate Disposition of the People.
15. Attitude or expression (of any part of the body). Now rare.
ΚΠ
1640 T. Carew Poems 142 No colour, feature, lovely ayre, or grace, That ever yet adorn'd a beauteous face.
1685 Hist. Nicerotis 57 By the sound of your Voice and the air of your Face, I was instantly convinced that you were the Lady I had been so rude to.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 98. ¶5 Nature has..given it [sc. the Face] Aires and Graces that cannot be described.
1729 B. Franklin Busy-body iii, in Amer. Weekly Mercury 11–18 Feb. 1/2 There was something in the Air of his Face that manifested the true Greatness of his Mind.
1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting II. iii. 90 Admirable is the variety of attitudes and airs of heads.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 4 It..gives a better air to your face.
1800 I. James Providence Displayed 149 Familiar Converse in the Town had taken off the Loneliness of his Aspect, and quite altered the Air of his Face.
1844 E. A. Poe Spectacles in Compl. Wks. (1902) V. 181 The Madonna-like and matronly air of the face.
1946 Jrnl. Warburg & Courtauld Inst. 9 9 We find a close stylistic analogy..in the general air of the head.
1995 N. Florida tr. Babad Jaka Tingkir in Writing Past ii. 136 With the air of his face profound Truly none could be the like.
†16. Grand manner; stylishness; grace. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > splendour, magnificence, or pomp > [noun] > manner or appearance
grand air1672
air1673
1673 Ld. Conway Let. 29 Nov. in Catal. Select. Stowe MSS (1883) 56 She hath very good eyes, very good features, and a very good complexion; but she wants the aire which should set off all this.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 23. ⁋1 She complained a Lady's Chariot..hung with twice the Air that her's did.
1816 J. Austen Emma I. iv. 62 I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air . View more context for this quotation
17. An assumed manner, affected appearance, show.
a. In singular. Chiefly in with an air: in a showy or affected manner. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [noun]
pensifulnessc1450
affectation1548
affection1570
affectedness1622
lady aira1637
fastuousness1649
gentility1650
fastuosity1656
vapouring1656
flatulency1662
hoity-toity1668
pretendingness1701
with an air1701
pretension1706
flatulence1711
uppishness1716
high and mightiness1771
pensieness1825
fine-gentlemanism1831
pretentiousness1838
ambitiousness1845
stuckupishness1853
pretensiveness1859
notion1866
side1870
dog1871
hoity-toityism1881
superiority complex1921
snootiness1932
uppitiness1935
snottiness1973
snoot1984
swag2002
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > an affected manner or appearance
with an air1701
prettyism1789
1701 Acct. Life in T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (ed. 3) sig. c With what an Air did Zeno teach his Wise Men the Contempt of Death.
1754 Scots Mag. July 337/2 Behind, with a coach-horse short dock, cut your hair; Stick a flower before, scew-whiff, with an air.
1796 Accurate & Impartial Narr. Campaigns 1793–4 (ed. 3) II. xi. 82 The Stadholder's hat was pulled off with an air.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. iv. 46 Said Aunt Chloe, drawing herself up with an air.
1899 M. Johnston By Order of Company iii He..hitched forward his cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air.
1939 L. MacNeice Autumn Jrnl. vi. 28 A Cambridge don who said with an air ‘There's going to be trouble shortly in this country.’
b. In plural. Cf. airs and graces at Phrases 1c.
ΚΠ
1701 T. Baker Humour of Age v. 65 I must intreat Lucia to instruct me in her modish Airs.
1719 R. Savage Love in Veil i. ii. 10 In France the coquet is rather admir'd for her airs.
1727 J. Gay Fables I. xxv. 118 How many saucy airs we meet, From Temple-bar to Aldgate-street.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xv. 66 What..had I to do, to take upon me Lady-Airs, and resent?
?1780 Scenes for Children i. 12 He is a self-willed boy, and his Mamma indulges him in his airs and humours.
1853 C. Brontë Villette I. i. 12 I hope you mean to behave prettily to her, missy, and not show your airs.
1876 W. Black Madcap Violet v. 41 You will get cured of all these whims and airs of yours some day.
1923 M. Moore Let. 5 Aug. in Sel. Lett. (1997) 202 He didn't see Bryher and his high airs and disgruntlement with the present state of affairs was colossal.
1932 R. L. Barker in J. F. Dobie Tone Bell Easy 69 So he came as usual to their door the next afternoon, very loud spoken and full of airs as a man is when he knows he has done wrong.
1998 F. Renzulli & D. Crane Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (HBO TV shooting script) 24 in Sopranos 1st Ser. (O.E.D. Archive) She's just shanty Irish with all her airs—she doesn't fool me for a second.

Phrases

P1.
a. to give oneself airs: to assume an unnatural or affected manner, esp. an unjustified air of superiority.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > be affected or act affectedly [verb (intransitive)]
to make it goodlyc1325
bride?1533
affect1600
mimp1673
to give oneself airs1701
fal-lal1818
pose1840
posturize1850
attitudinize1864
primp1875
posture1877
lardy-dardy1887
to put (or pile) on lugs1889
la-di-da1901
profile1970
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > pretend to superiority [verb (intransitive)]
to make it goodlyc1325
usurpc1400
to take state upon one1597
to come over ——1600
to gentilize it1607
to state it1625
to give oneself airs1701
to put on airs1715
to mount (also ride) the high horse1782
to put on (the) dog1865
to get (also have) notions1866
to put on side1870
to have a roll on1881
to put (or pile) on lugs1889
side1890
to put on the Ritz1921
1701 T. Baker Humour of Age ii. 29 As I was..giving myself great Airs behind the Scenes.
1735 H. Fielding Old Man taught Wisdom 17 I must always give myself Airs to a Man I like.
1789 R. Burns Let. 4 Jan. (1985) I. 351 I give myself no airs on this, for it was mere selfishness on my part.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies i. 6 A stuck-up fellow, who gave himself airs.
1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. i. iv. 60 Mrs. Frith used to talk about ‘people as gave theirselves airs which they had no business to of done.’
1946 C. Bush Case Second Chance vii. 105 It was said she gave herself airs, and it was also hinted that she was no better—as they say—than she might be.
2001 J. Hamilton-Paterson Loving Monsters (2002) v. 62 Some people like to give themselves airs.
b. to put on airs = to give oneself airs at Phrases 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > pretend to superiority [verb (intransitive)]
to make it goodlyc1325
usurpc1400
to take state upon one1597
to come over ——1600
to gentilize it1607
to state it1625
to give oneself airs1701
to put on airs1715
to mount (also ride) the high horse1782
to put on (the) dog1865
to get (also have) notions1866
to put on side1870
to have a roll on1881
to put (or pile) on lugs1889
side1890
to put on the Ritz1921
1715 J. Browne & W. Oldisworth State Tracts II. 46 So we have reason to look shy, And put on Airs, when they are by.
1787 J. H. Leigh New Rosciad 25 When affectation prompts the vulgar dame To put on airs.
1832 Deb. Congress 30 Jan. 203 I am aware that, at times, States have attempted to put on airs, and set up their own against federal opinions.
1860 O. W. Holmes Professor at Breakfast-table v. 132 None of them like too well to be told of it, but it must be sounded in their ears whenever they put on airs.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cvii. 664 Fearing that the people he lived with would think he wanted to put on airs, he had always taken the greatest care to say nothing about his past occupations.
1952 T. Williams Summer & Smoke ii. i It is understandable that she might be accused of ‘putting on airs’ and of being ‘affected’.
1992 J. Dunning Booked to Die v. 32 Neff put on airs, oozed arrogance, and, until you passed muster, seemed aloof and cold.
c. airs and graces: (depreciative) affected manners intended to convey a person's elegance, refinement, or (later) superiority; affectations, pretensions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > affectation of refinement
airs and graces1697
fine-ladyism1799
gentility1821
shabby-gentility1829
gentishness1847
genteelism1849
silver-spoonism1859
posh1915
refainment1933
1697 J. Vanbrugh Æsop i. 24 He made a thousand ugly Faces, Which (as sometimes in Ladies cases) Were all design'd for Airs and Graces.
1705 T. Walker Wit of Woman Prol. sig. A3v New Cullies, (with stale Airs and Graces).
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxix. 357 Old Sir Pitt..chuckled at her airs and graces, and would laugh by the hour together at her assumptions of dignity and imitations of genteel life.
1877 Galaxy July 124/1 In opera, too, when Mlle. Diva sings, Miss Petrel, the contralto, affects the prima's airs and graces.
1930 in N. Shepherd Weatherhouse iii. 50 The Craigmyle ladies knew better than to be taken in with her airs and graces, that deceived the lesser intellects.
1971 S. Howatch Penmarric (1972) i. iii. 49 She was, after all, only a working-class woman, despite her airs and graces.
2001 J. Boyle Galloway Street 141 Coming here with your airs and graces, calling us tinkers.
P2. in the air.
a. In an unfixed or uncertain state, in doubt; (of a person) in doubt, uncertain; (of an idea or theory) speculative, hypothetical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > there is danger in a course of action [phrase] > in a precarious condition
on the (or a) razor's edge?1611
upon a or the die1659
in the air1752
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > [adjective] > in a state of uncertainty
in non-certainc1390
in supposition1565
at uncertainty1668
whether for a penny1672
in the air1752
at whethers1828
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > unreliability > uncertain [phrase]
to remain to be seen1714
in the air1752
if and when1926
1752 H. Walpole Let. 28 Oct. (1903) III. 124 Don't look upon this paragraph as a thing in the air.
1797 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 186 I consider the future character of our republic as in the air; indeed its future fortune will be in the air, if war is made on us by France.
1898 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 15 June 1/6 The matter may be left in the air for the president to take such action as the exigencies of the military situation may demand.
1910 J. Galsworthy Justice iv Keep him in the air; I don't want to see him yet... Keep him hankering.
1940 in T. Harrisson & C. Madge War begins at Home v. 107 I didn't hear anything for a long time. They sort of leave you in the air.
b. In the moral or intellectual atmosphere of a particular time, place, etc.; in people's minds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > [adverb] > in everyone's mind
in the air1853
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > moral philosophy > [adverb] > in the moral atmosphere of the time
in the air1853
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > topic, subject-matter > [adverb] > prominently
uppermost1693
upmost1808
in the air1853
1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xxvii. 276 There was a kind of gossamer happiness hanging in the air.
1864 H. W. Longfellow Falcon Federigo 139 There was..that wild exhilaration in the air.
1875 A. W. Ward Hist. Eng. Dramatic Lit. I. iv. 325 The appreciation of Shakspere and the dramatic art perceptible in both these great writers was, as the phrase is, in the air,—in the air, i.e., breathed by those who stood on the height of European culture.
1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul I. App. iv. 642 These expressions and points of view were not peculiar to Philo. They were, so to speak, in the air.
1933 Amer. Mercury May 11/2 The first stirrings of extra-continental imperialism were in the air.
1965 N. Coward Diary 10 Oct. (2000) 611 They are nothing if not polite, but there is a sense of dégringolade in the air.
2000 Time 21 Feb. 42/2 The mood in the air, and on the graffitied walls of Belfast, suggests that the I.R.A.'s hard men still see the destruction of their arms as a humiliation, not a gesture of peace.
c. Military. Without support; exposed to attack, esp. from the flank (see quot. 1882). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > battlefield > [adverb] > at or to front > of front: protruding
in the air1865
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. viii. 261 No intelligent man can read the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus..without feeling that, as a speculative work, it is, to use a French military expression, in the air; that, in a certain sense, it is in want of a base and in want of supports.
1882 D. Gardner Quatre Bras, Ligny, & Waterloo 200 The extreme left of the Allied front..was, in military dialect, ‘in the air’—that is, protruded into the open country, without natural or artificial protection to its outer flank.
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. p. x There was hardly an operation in which platoons..brigades, or divisions were not left with one or both flanks in the air.
1941 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 19 Mar.–13 May 189 An Imperial division concentrated round Bengazi was left in the air when the German Panzer inrush swept aside the British armoured brigade.
1999 Geogr. Jrnl. 165 26/1 Often the flanks of the Allied advances [sc. in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign] were left ‘in the air’ and in danger of being outflanked.
P3. up in the air.
a. colloquial (now chiefly U.S.). Displaying heightened emotions; excited, angry, anxious, etc. Usually with go. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1873 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera III. xxxiv. 11 When he had saved enough to buy a knife or a good tool, he was quite up in the air.
1901 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 20 July 3/3 Father just went up in the air. Wear dress clothes at noon?
1928 E. Wallace Again Sanders ii. 49 Abiboo, who is a strict Mussulman, got up in the air because Bones suggested he might have been once a guinea-pig.
1930 Punch 21 May 577/3 Why the Prime Minister should have ‘gone up in the air’, as they say, because it appeared in print that Gandhi was about to be arrested..was not revealed.
1951 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Amer. 7 Jan. 21/4 Labor Department officials went up in the air when they discovered DPA's line of authority included that department.
1979 M. Powell Servants' Hall ii. 4 When I told you that I quite liked Alice..you went up in the air and said she was an old witch.
b. In an unfixed or uncertain state, in doubt; (of a person) in doubt, uncertain; (of an idea or theory) speculative, hypothetical.
ΚΠ
1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise viii. 140 You might have let somebody know. I was left rather up in the air this morning.
1943 W. Temple Let. 8 June (1963) 80 The faith he professes in that book is very much up in the air and devoid both of practical and philosophical attachments.
1956 C. Wilson Outsider ii. 44 The reader is left feeling oddly ‘up in the air’ about it all. No happy finale, no dramatic tying up of loose ends.
2000 Two Twenty Oct. 72/5 The competition this year remains up in the air with only two races left on the calendar.
P4.
a. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). to give (a person) the air: to dismiss (a person); to reject. Also with get.
ΚΠ
1900 G. Ade More Fables 85 (title) The Fable of why Essie's Tall Friend got the Fresh Air.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age 202 ‘How about my studies?’ Hugh retorted. ‘I suppose you want me to give them the air.’
1934 P. G. Wodehouse Thank you, Jeeves x. 135 Surely you don't intend to give the poor blighter the permanent air on account of a trifling lovers' tiff?
1949 R. Graves Seven Days in New Crete xvii. 207 I couldn't change her views..nor could she convert me to hers, even when she threatened to give me the air.
1986 R. Campbell In La-la Land 41 Manny Ostrava hinted at it when he gave us the air.
b. to give (a ball) air: (Cricket, of a bowler) to deliver (a ball) with a high, flighted trajectory; (Rugby, etc.) to keep (a ball) constantly in movement.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > play football [verb (intransitive)] > actions
to kill a ball1883
chip1889
miskick1901
to go in1914
to give (a ball) air1920
punt-kick1960
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > bowl [verb (transitive)] > bowl in specific manner
twist1816
overthrow1833
to bowl over the wicket1851
overpitch1851
bump1869
york1882
to break a ball1884
flog1884
to bowl round (or formerly outside) the wicket1887
turn1898
flick1902
curl1904
spin1904
volley1909
flight1912
to give (a ball) air1920
tweak1935
move1938
overspin1940
swing1948
bounce1960
cut1960
seam1963
dolly1985
1920 E. R. Wilson in P. F. Warner Cricket (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) (new ed.) ii. 88 Slow bowlers are right to ‘give the ball air’ to a nervous or slow-footed batsman.
1929 Daily Express 7 Nov. 18/7 The ball was given plenty of ‘air’, the pace of the passing and the accuracy of handling a greasy ball reflecting the greatest credit on every one concerned.
1958 Times 10 Feb. 12/2 Conditions did not favour open play but both sides contrived to give the ball air.
1998 R. Hill On Beulah Height (1999) iii. v. 254 He gave it plenty of air so the batsman had lots of time to worry whether it was his googly or not.
P5.
a. on the air: (being) broadcast by radio or television; broadcasting. Cf. on-air adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > [adverb]
on the air1927
1897 Strand Mag. Mar. 277/1 How far have you sent a telegraphic despatch on the air?]
1927 Observer 11 Dec. 16 The only New York church which is ‘on the air’.
1960 How TV Works (Granada TV) 9/1 Two months before Granada went on the air the first studio..was clear of builders' men.
2005 Dreamwatch Feb. 72/2 A brief 20-minute overview of the season's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the show's struggle to stay on the air.
b. off the air: not (being) broadcast by radio or television; not broadcasting. Cf. off-air adj. and adv.
ΚΠ
1935 Down Beat Aug. 10/2 Bill Hogan and his orchestra [are] off the air and out of the Grove on an eight-week tour of RKO vaudeville houses.
1938 Times Herald (Dallas) 1 Apr. iii. 11 The Detroit station pull[ed]..Tommy off the air for ‘swinging’ Loch Lomond.
1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 255 The Hiroshima radio went off the air.
1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 May 18/7 The ‘hot show’ declaration could take members of the technicians', journalists' and actors' unions off the show, and take it off the air.
1990 Police Mar. 30/3 The emergency broadcast system failed. Every television and radio station went off the air by 9:0 that night.
2003 Cult Times May 9/2 I still haven't given up on Firefly, which may seem strange since it's been off the air for months.

Compounds

C1.
a. Compounds relating to atmospheric air.
(a) Objective. With participles, as air-crisping, air-defiling, air-entraining, etc.; with agent nouns, as air-cleaner, air purifier, etc.
ΚΠ
1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates 563 (T.) Air-threat'ning tops of cedars tall.
1591 E. Spenser Muiopotmos in Complaints sig. Vv The woods, the riuers, and the medowes green, With his aire-cutting wings he measured wide.
1647 H. More Philos. Poems iii. xxxvi Air-trampling ghosts.
1651 H. Vaughan Olor Iscanus 4 Chameleons of state, Aire-monging band, Whose breath (like Gun-powder) blowes up a land.
1768 A. Dour tr. 'Inayat Allah Tales I. i. 32 He, one day, according to custom, mounted his air-treading steed, turning to the chace of the..wing-beating travellers of the unbounded air.
1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §619 Air-conveying tubes, known under the name of tracheæ.
1865 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 28 Let me be to Thee as the circling bird, Or bat with tender and air-crisping wings.
1882 Macmillan's Mag. 45 500 Powerful air-pumping engines.
1926 Lancet 26 June 1292/1 The ‘Deodos’ Air Cleanser. The purpose of this apparatus is to purify and medicate the air of rooms and buildings by means of a vapour.
1956 Gloss. Terms Concrete (B.S.I.) 7 Air-entraining agent, an admixture to Portland cement or to concrete which causes a small quantity of air to be incorporated..in the concrete during mixing.
1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 139/1 Stones [were] found in air cleaner.
2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 Dec. l3/5 The lamp was originally developed in France in 1898 as an air purifier for hospitals.
(b) Instrumental, as air-bred, air-spun, air-swept, etc.
ΚΠ
?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda sig. E3 v Ayre bred Eagles.
1596 M. Drayton Mortimeriados sig. D4 Ayre-bred moystie vapors.
1657 J. Harington Hist. Polindor & Flostella (ed. 3) i. 4 Best-tuned Voice! whilst wanton part Chants th' Ayr-bred Eccho.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 330 Those air-bred people, and their goat-nurs'd Jove.
1778 J. H. Moore Poet. Trifles 40 Each air-form'd spectre.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 60 How fair these air-born shapes!
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 135 This air-filled bowl.
1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy in Poems (new ed.) 202 And air-swept lindens yield Their scent.
1890 Daily Nevada State Jrnl. 11 Apr. 2/4 Now comes the silent, air operated station annunciator.
1901 Guide to Felixstowe (Ward, Lock) 2 It is an air-swept place, this sunny Felixstowe.
1956 S. Bellow in It all adds Up (1994) 50 All his life long he sold non-existent property, concessions he did not own, and air-spun schemes to greedy men.
2001 Mod. Railways Sept. 10/2 Alstom disclosed that the fault was in a Vacuum Circuit Breaker, the air-operated high-voltage switch which connects traction equipment and transformer to the current collection pantograph.
(c) Similative, as air-clear, air-sweet, air-thin, air-white, etc., and limitative, as airproof.See also airtight adj.
ΚΠ
1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. Prol. sig. A4v Or els transpiercing ayre-cleare brightnes.
1835 W. Wordsworth Russ. Fugitive ii. vii, in Yarrow Revisited 130 So smooth was all within, air-proof And delicately lined.
1879 E. Spon Workshop Receipts 369 Waterproof but not air-proof..the great drawback of ordinary mackintoshes.
1882 G. Barlow Song-spray 150 Star-like air-soft touching of thine hand!
1918 E. Sitwell Clowns' Houses 11 Each in an air-white crinoline.
1938 W. de la Mare Memory & Other Poems 67 A quiet, air-sweet October day.
1948 E. Sitwell Notebk. on Shakespeare xii. 141 There are echoes..some more air-thin than the sound of which they are a memory.
1969 S. Cotton & R. Barker Aviator Extraordinary iii. 33 The suit had a warm lining of thin fur, then a layer of airproof silk, then an outside layer of light Burberry material.
1992 D. G. Campbell Crystal Desert iv. 80 Under the muffling ice, the Southern Ocean precipitates its sediments and is air-clear.
2005 Aspire Apr. 11/1 (advt.) The look is pure matte perfection. The feel, blissfully air-soft.
(d) attributive.
(i) In sense ‘of or relating to air’, ‘composed or formed of air’, as air-breath, air-current, air density, air-eddy, air-particle, air-plume, air-supply, air-sylph, air-world.See also air plant n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > a movement of air > a current of air
windc1000
air-current1600
streama1722
draughta1774
air draught1786
waft1863
airstream1869
1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. To Rdr. sig. A3 My fearelesse ayre-plume-pen.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 344 To break these air-currents into smaller ones.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria I. xii. 244 The wings of the air-sylph are forming within the skin of the caterpillar.
1827 T. Carlyle Richter in Edinb. Rev. June 186 A distorted incoherent series of air-landscapes.
1827 N. Arnott Elements Physics I. iii. 510 In ordinary breathing..the increase and diminution of air-density, in the chest, is measured by a column of less than one inch, or about a five-hundredth.
1850 S. Judd Richard Edney & Governor's Family xxii. 256 I wonder..how the fishes relish the arrival of a boat from the air-world, passing like a cloud over their pleasant prospects.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxxxvii. 435 The air-eddy made by the sudden tossing of a pair of broad flukes.
1877 F. Schumann Man. Heating & Ventilation 18 Air Supply. The following formulæ will demonstrate the necessity of a greater supply of pure air.
1885 W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July 136/1 For there came an air-breath cool.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 13/1 We imagine ourselves stopping in just that way to chat with a friend in the highways of the air-world.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay (U.K. ed.) iii. iv. 407 That cold side that gives you the air-eddy I was beginning to know passing well.
1924 Q. Jrnl. Royal Meteorol. Soc. 50 29 Up to an approximate height of 8 km. above the ground the air density is chiefly controlled by the temperature.
1959 E. F. Linssen Beetles Brit. Isles I. 112 The larvae of Haliplus..must renew their air-supply at the surface of the water since they breathe through spiracles.
1988 P. Wayburn Adventuring in Alaska (rev. ed.) i. 24 Light is bent in the direction of increasing air density—that is, toward cold dense air—and this phenomenon pulls the image of distant landscapes above the horizon.
1997 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 15 Sept. c3 (advt.) The Oreck XL Hypo-Allergenic 8 lb. Hotel Upright... Filters 99.7% of breathable air particles.
2004 West Briton (Nexis) 29 July 54 Then it's on to the air world where aerial birds can be found contorting and cartwheeling high in the sky on aerial silks.
(ii) In names of various instruments or apparatus operated by or on (esp. compressed) air (often = ‘pneumatic’).See air bearing n., air damper n., air gun n., air pump n., air whistle n. at Compounds 2, and airlift n. 1b.
(iii) In sense ‘for the use, reception, passage, etc., of air or compressed air’; as air bottle, air cylinder, air gland, air inlet, air receptacle, air slit , air syringe, air valve. See also many others in air n.1 (as for example air ball n.), and air balloon n., air bath n. 2, air bladder n., air-box n., air cell n., air chamber n., air hole n., air pipe n., airshaft n., airspace n. 1, air vessel n., etc.
ΚΠ
1779 J. Watt Let. 11 Mar. in E. Robinson & D. McKie Partners in Sci. (1970) 60 Almost all the furnaces here are Blown by fire engines either mediately by water or immediately by an air Cylinder.
1787 E. Darwin in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 78 50 A small cell, which is kept free from air by an air-syringe adapted to it.
1826 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 116 225 The air spring soon resists sufficiently to close the air valve.
1835 W. Church Specif. Patent 6791 12 The buffers supported by metal springs x and air cylinder.
1835 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 344/2 Continuous air-receptacles..subservient to the function of respiration.
1855 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. V. 281/2 The so-called air-gland.
1856 Sci. Amer. 9 Apr. 250/3 I also claim arranging the air inlet tube, so that its opening [etc.].
1918 Jane's Pocket Aeronaut. Dict. 8 Air-bottle, container for compressed air used for starting big engines.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses 143 They..begin to waddle slowly up the winding staircase..peeping at the airslits.
1990 Outdoor Life Apr. 31/2 (advt.) Because the pros know the GT 150 has a specially-designed powerhead and louvered air inlets to allow maximum horsepower.
2004 Shooting Sports Oct. 45/2 Its compact dimensions allow it to slide down into most 30-litre backpacks or, if you prefer, open the air valve and roll it up for storage.
(e) Locative, as air-built, air-dance, air-fowling, etc.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iii. iv. 61 This is the Ayre-drawne-Dagger. View more context for this quotation
1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Mouffet Theater of Insects in E. Topsell Hist. Four-footed Beasts 994 The boyes..exercise their air-fowling not without profit and pleasure.
1728 A. Pope Dunciad iii. 10 The air-built Castle, and the golden Dream.
1843 E. Miall in Nonconformist 3 537 An air-built castle, which dissolves away before the gaze of reason.
1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia I. xi. 232 Swallows..began their air-dance for the day.
1882 J. Hawthorne Fortune's Fool (1883) i. xii The air-drawn picture of all the wondrous scenes that were in her memory.
1888 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 105 Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-built thoroughfare.
1894 W. D. Howells Lit. Friends & Acquaintance (1900) i. xvi. 59 I was a helplessly concrete young person, and all forms of the abstract, the air-drawn, afflicted me like physical discomforts.
1947 S. Sassoon Heart's Journey xxxi, in Coll. Poems (1984) 194 To music's air-built mesh Move thoughts for ever strange.
1992 O. Goldsmith First Wives Club ii. xi. 231 She had to stoop to receive the kiss—a real kiss, no social air-smack—that he planted on her cheek.
b. Compounds (chiefly attributive or objective) relating to air as the medium for the operation of aircraft.
(a) In sense ‘of or relating to aircraft or travel by air; conveyed, used by, or involved in the flying of aircraft’, as air boy, air cargo, air chart, airfare, air-flying, air-girl, air journey, air log, air map, air navigation, air navigator, air pageant, air parcel, air photo, air photograph, air photographer, air photography, air pilot, air portability, air portable, air post, air survey, air surveying, air tour, air tourist, air travel, air traveller, air travelling, air trip, air vehicle.In the early 20th cent. rapidly tending to supersede aerial adj.See also aircraft n., airfield n., airman n., airplane n. 2, airport n.2, airship n., air vessel n. 3, airway n. 2, airwoman n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > aerobatics > [noun] > air display
air pageant1785
air circus1907
air show1912
1785 H. Walpole Let. 24 June (1971) IX. 589 Air-navigation has received a great blow.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. v. 53/2 A hapless air-navigator, plunging, amid torn parachutes, sand-bags, and confused wreck, fast enough, into the jaws of the Devil!
1866 Galaxy 1 Sept. 52 To discuss the probability and possibility of air-travel in a not remote future may seem to be trespassing on the limits of good sense.
1871 Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 62 The minds of many thinking men have been, during the present century, turned to this interesting subject of air navigation.
1873 Cassell's Mag. 8 134/1 We saw two air-boys leaning over the side of the car.
1875 Times 11 Dec. 8/3 Air travelling is rather a dangerous game.
1902 Aeronaut. Jrnl. July 51/1 Some accomplishment on the part of an air vehicle.
1906 W. M. Davis in Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 38 240 He will leave Norway for Spitzbergen in June, and expects to start on his air journey in August.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 July 12/1 Thirteen persons who made a successful air-trip from the Champ de Mars.
1909 Racine (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 31 Aug. 4/7 Bleriot,..who accomplished the feat of crossing the English Channel via an air traveling machine.
1911 Daily Mail 11 Sept. 3/4 An air post cannot be expected as yet to behave with the same clockwork regularity as an earth post.
1912 C. M. Doughty Clouds 119 Their air-flying enemies.
1912 Times 28 Nov. 10/3 Mr. Joynson-Hicks.—Were the flares lighted in order that our own airships should know where to alight? Mr. Churchill.—They were lighted in order to give assistance to air travellers who might be in difficulties.
1913 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper With Airmen viii. 204 It has been decided that..certain districts should be marked out on air-maps, and that aeroplanes should not be allowed to fly over them.
1913 Stamp Collecting 27 Sept. 27/2 The provisional air pilot was arguing with the Republican officials.
1915 Sphere 20 Feb. 198/1 A well developed system of meteorological reports can be of such help to the air navigator.
1915 Times 11 Sept. 6/4 Thanks to excellent air photographs, the situation of the main military buildings was located exactly.
1916 Times 19 Dec. 7/2 Air photography, as a means of charting a hostile and unsurveyed country, has been brought to a scientific pitch.
1917 Sat. Rev. 28 July 62/2 The commander estimated that the average cost of travel..would be 1½d... But airfare—the word, we believe, is original—of the future will depend on many widely conflicting factors.
1918 Times 6 Dec. 12/2 (headline) An Air Survey..Surveying the country by means of aerial photographs.
1919 Times 22 Apr. 10/4 Vedrines was a pioneer of aviation in France... It had been [his] intention..to start off as soon as possible on a prolonged air tour of the world.
1919 Daily Oklahoman 15 Oct. 1/5 An air cargo [of whisky] would be very much worth while, despite the risks.
1920 Flight 12 854/2 These air charts, which are constructed on Mercator's projection, measure approximately 20 ins. by 18 ins.
1920 Times 21 Sept. 20/1 (advt.) Air photos of a portion of the Cavenham Park Estate, Suffolk... For sale by private treaty.
1920 Flight 12 233/1 The achievements of air photography during the War were very remarkable.
1923 Geogr. Jrnl. 57 363 The field archæologist has much to gain in future from an alliance with the air-photographer, particularly in England.
1923 J. W. Simpson Ess. & Mem. 169 The confident courage that inspires air-pilots.
1923 G. Collins Valley of Eyes Unseen 326 The great strides recently made in the art of air-travel.
1924 Times 9 May 10/4 Adjusting the photographic material obtained during the course of air surveying in order to secure accuracy in the resulting map.
1927 Air Dec. 55/2 The first Birmingham Air Pageant.
1928 V. E. Clark Elem. Aviation 138 Air log, an instrument for measuring the linear travel of an aircraft relative to the air.
1928 Aerial A.B.C. Apr. 20 Air parcels may be posted at any District or Branch Post Office.
1928 Daily Express 20 June 1/3 All first impressions vanished... The boyish airgirl [sc. Amelia Earhart] became a feminine woman.
1929 Punch 20 Mar. 326/3 The Minister is satisfied that before many months we air-tourists will be taking our twelve-day flips to Kenya.
1933 Discovery Feb. 57/1 Air surveying is used extensively by the United States Geological Survey for the preparation of topographic maps.
1934 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 38 508 Vertical flight would enable air travellers to take off from the centre of the city for transfer to air liners at the outlying airports.
1943 ‘T. Dudley-Gordon’ Coastal Command xii. 115 One navigator..always takes a portable typewriter with him on a raid... So I thought that I should do my air logs on the typewriter.
1945 P. Larkin North Ship 14 The Polish air~girl in the corner seat.
1946 E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House x. 141 He had reached and passed the crucial mark known, in the poetic language of the air navigator, as the Point of No Return.
1951 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IV. 290/1 An air map presents an accurate picture of the ground below, illustrating..all conspicuous geographical features... An air chart, drawn to a much smaller scale and without the elaborate detail of the map, is designed simply to enable the navigator to plot his position during the journey.
1959 Times 16 Jan. 10/5 The British idea was to develop an air-portable gun for both roles.
1959 Star 19 Feb. 9/5 Mr. Christopher Soames, Secretary for War, coined a new watchword today for Britain's all-regular Army of the future—air portability.
1959 Elizabethan Apr. 5/3 The chance of an air-trip overseas.
1959 W. A. Heflin Aerospace Gloss. 3/2 Activity in the flight of air vehicles and in the launching, guidance, and control of ballistic missiles, earth satellites, dirigible space vehicles, and the like.
1959 Notes & Queries 204 1/1 From air photographs Dr. St. Joseph was able to show the size and shape of Roman fields in the Fenlands.
1966 Times 5 Oct. 14/7 A £90,000 extension to the geography department, including an air-photo library for a collection of five million R.A.F. photographs taken during the war.
1971 Bull. (Sydney) 1 May 10/3 Some things move us deeply here in Melbourne—football, dawn Anzac parades and air pageants.
1971 R. J. P. Wilson Land Surveying viii. 164 In the past plane tabling was the method used for supplying topographical detail for maps at scales of 1:10 0 to 1:250 0, but its use in this respect has largely..been superseded by air survey.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia I. 376/2 The flight simulator taught the essentials of air navigation and blind flight to thousands of military pilots during World War II.
1977 Business Week (Industr. ed.) (Nexis) 24 Oct. 11 Panama..is losing the air tourists as well because the new jumbo jets fly directly to South America.
1990 Stamp Monthly Mar. 3/1 Other airpost stamps not shown in the supplement were released later in the year.
1990 Financial Post (Canada) 31 Oct. 3/2 Most air cargo will be carried by charter cargo airlines and by the megacarriers.
1991 Soldier 28 Oct. 21/1 This remarkable airportable armoured vehicle is a lightly armoured mini-tank with a crew of three.
1992 Calgary (Alberta) Herald 18 Jan. c8/5 The air travelling public is used to fares going down.
1994 K. Perry Business & European Community xiii. 262 Getting goods to the Community countries from the UK will inevitably involve a sea or air journey.
1994 Sunday Times (Singapore) 2 Oct. 5/1 It said air travel between North America and Southeast Asia might be affected by the ash cloud.
1995 Touch Arctic Adventure Tours '95 20/1 In Yellowknife, you'll enjoy a specialty cruise and fish fry..and your choice of bushplane or air tour of the area.
1996 Canad. Geographic Nov. 102/1 (advt.) Accurate digital maps prepared from air photos and GPS field work.
1996 Daily Tel. 17 Dec. 6/2 Aircraft without crew..used to be called unmanned air vehicles but this has fallen victim to political correctness and they are now known as uninhabited air vehicles.
1999 Oxoniensia 63 95 All traces would appear to have vanished from the meadow itself. It does not appear in modern air-photographs.
1999 Oxoniensia 63 4 Air photography in the hot summers of 1975/6..showed that Oxford has its own prehistoric ritual focus—a major barrow cemetery.
2000 Z. Sardar Consumption Kuala Lumpur 227 The tolls on the highway are less than the airfare.
2002 C. P. Panayiotopoulos et al. Panayiotopoulos Syndrome 131 The third seizure occurred..after many hours of air travelling.
2005 New Yorker 12 Dec. 42/1 For an annual fee of eighty dollars, a set of fingerprints, and an iris scan, an air traveller will be able to insert a Clear card into an A.T.M.-like kiosk and enjoy express passage through airport security.
2006 Gloucestershire Echo (Nexis) 19 Sept. 20 Former Echo photographer Norman Preece served as an air photographer during the war.
2006 Focus Nov. 84/2 The fairground ‘Booster’, originally developed to train air pilots and then adapted to scare people witless.
2006 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 18 Nov. a16 (headline) U.S. gives Canadian air tourists a brief reprieve on passports.
2007 Yukon News (Nexis) 1 June 12 The Geological Survey of Canada has conducted air surveys in the Yukon in the past, but only collected data in two remote mining areas.
(b) In sense ‘of or relating to the air as a sphere of offensive or defensive operations; involved or used in aerial combat’, as air alert, air attack, air blockade, air combat, air defence, air escort, air observation, air offensive, air patrol, air reconnaissance, air superiority, air supremacy, air torpedo, air war, air warfare.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > aircraft weapons or equipment > [noun] > air torpedo
air torpedo1874
torpedo1916
1874 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age I. xviii. 233 Colonel Sellers..was the inventor of the famous air-torpedo.
1914 Scotsman 23 Sept. 7/6 On the 28th August..one of the French commanders desired to make an air reconnaissance.
1914 Sphere 26 Dec. 318/1 The possible air attack over London.
1915 Manitoba Morning Free Press 12 Jan. 1/5 The final phases of the air combat were fought at a height of about 9,000 feet.
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War vii. i. 295 (heading) Strategy of an Air Offensive.
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War i. ii. 25 An air reconnaissance would have told him that Blücher..was actually marching north.
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War v. xiv. 252 The axiom that ‘might is right’ may apply very forcibly to the air wars of the future.
1916 Fortn. Rev. 99 1062 Air warfare on the scale indicated..opens up possibilities in the way of air raids for landing considerable bodies of men.
1916 Sphere 29 Jan. 109 (heading) The latest German attempt to challenge British air supremacy.
1916 Sphere 26 Feb. 207/1 (heading) The Problem of Air Defence.
1916 Illustr. War News 8 Mar. 6/1 (caption) A French air-torpedo caught in a tree over a German trench.
1917 Scotsman 17 May 6/1 A sustained naval and air offensive at Zeebrugge.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 87/1 Air defence..deals with the arrangements which deny to enemy aircraft access to vulnerable points.
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. 30 Artillery fire, directed by air observation.
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. 57 The days of the merciless air-patrols had yet to come.
1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 553/2 A deliberate attempt was made by both sides to gain air superiority.
1940 E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 7 On an Army front air supremacy is essential to success in these days.
1941 Times Weekly 5 Feb. 2/3 In spite of air alerts and privations, the population have not lost their courage.
1941 N. Macmillan Air Strategy xiv. 109 A true conception of the object of the air blockade.
1941 N. Macmillan Air Strategy xv. 128 Long range air escorts..to protect the fleets of bombers.
1944 Ann. Reg. 1943 29 The British air offensive against Germany..set up a new record.
1959 Times 18 May 7/2 The reason why Strategic Air Command does not maintain an air alert, with aircraft carrying nuclear weapons in the air twenty-four hours a day.
1961 J. Toland But not in Shame v. xxii. 339 When the blowers were off during air attacks, the air soon became fetid.
1972 Newsweek 10 Jan. 14/3 The step-up in the air war might even jeopardize the continuation of the talks themselves.
1981 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 1 June 23 During the European phase of the program, aircrews flew more than 700 missions to evaluate point area defense, force protection, air superiority, [etc.].
1990 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army x. 110 They work entirely from ground and air reconnaissance reports of Fantasian movements rung in from a central control room.
1991 T. Dupuy How to defeat Saddam Hussein v. 64 The first phase would be devoted to destroying the offensive and defensive air warfare capabilities of Iraq.
1992 J. Peters & J. Nichol Tornado Down viii. 61 Without air superiority, or better still air supremacy, war is unwinnable.
2001 Pop. Sci. Nov. 17/1 (caption) Designed for tasks ranging from air combat to submarine warfare, the MH-60R launches from carriers, destroyers, frigates, or cruisers.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 14 Apr. a14/2 Was the intelligence information..integrated into any air defense plan for protecting the homeland?
(c) In sense ‘of or relating to that branch of a country's armed forces which fights in the air, or to the branch of government which oversees this’, as air armada, air batallion, air board, air command, air council, air division, air fleet, air ministry, air staff, air wing.See also Air Commodore n. at Compounds 2, air marshal n. (a) at Compounds 2, Air Vice-Marshal n. at Compounds 2.
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1908 H. G. Wells War in Air iv. §3 The German airfleet.
1910 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily News 9 Sept. 15/1 France gave the world a new record today by adding an ‘air division’ to the regular military maneuvers of her army.
1911 Times 25 Feb. 7/3 The Balloon School is being reorganized and will be transformed into an Air Battalion.
1914 Times 10 Sept. 5/6 (heading) Naval air wing.
1915 Times 14 Oct. 9/3 A public meeting..to urge the Government to adopt a declared policy of air reprisals for Zeppelin raids on London..and to offer the Government all possible support in the formation of an Air Ministry.
1916 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 4 Jan. 11/6 Baron Cowdray has been appointed chairman of the British Air Board in succession to Baron Sydenham.
1916 Flight 8 112/1 (heading) An Air Ministry at last.
1917 Act 7 & 8 Geo. V c. 51 An Act to make provision for the establishment, administration, and discipline of an Air Force, the establishment of an Air Council, and for purposes connected therewith.
1917 Times 9 Mar. 7/1 One of the bitterest lessons that the German Air Staff have had to learn.
1917 Flying 31 Oct. 225/2 The disaster which befell the German air armada.
1922 Times 10 Nov. 9/3 The Air Command in India has been raised to an air vice-marshal's command.
1940 E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 27 But for the Fleet Air Arm, which is exclusively controlled by the Admiralty, the whole of British Air Power is thus under the direction of a single staff—the Air Staff—and is commanded by R.A.F.
1946 A. Lee German Air Force ii. 19 The Luftwaffe was organized territorially into Air Fleets (Luft-flotten). There were four immediately before the war.
1950 ‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xiv. 108 Should have the recon reports by now. Get through to Air Command again.
1962 Guardian 3 Oct. 3/7 The Air Ministry should..mitigate the ‘nuisance’ of a station in the National Park by keeping buildings..away from the main road.
1983 Times 6 Aug. 6/2 His [sc. Ronald Reagan's] response is to dispatch huge naval and air armadas to the waters off the Nicaraguan coasts.
1985 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 1: U.S.S.R. (B.B.C.) 18 May SU/7954/A4/2 Exercises were carried out involving the transfer from the US air base in Carlsberg to Turkish territory of the US 301th [sic] Special Air Battalion, weapons and ordnance.
1993 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 8 Feb. 26/1 A recent advisory air board has broached several cost-cutting proposals.
1994 Air & Space Technol. Nov. 9/1 Radio intercept operators..were listening to the radar networks as they sent plotting data to their air command headquarters.
1998 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 5: Afr. & Latin Amer. (B.B.C.) (Nexis) 24 Dec. AL/D3418/A The head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has, by the powers conferred on him as the chairman, Army Council, Navy Board, and Air Council respectively, approved the promotion of a number of senior officers.
2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon liii. 840 Its wide-body cargo jets were being taken into federal service under the terms of a Phase I call-up of the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet.
2001 UFO Mag. Jan. 65/2 (advt.) Highlights include:..(2) Previously-classified files on the so-called ‘Foo Fighter’ phenomenon from the archives of the British Air Ministry and the U.S. Air Force.
2001 Focus Oct. 29/3 The three hangars..house most of the 80 tactical aircraft of the air wing.
2002 N.Y. Sun (Nexis) 11 July (Internat. section) 5 [The officer], commander of Air Division 24, said the country is buying Russian-made..fighter planes.
2007 U.S. Federal News (Nexis) 8 June We're also working with Air Staff offices and other commands to develop an extranet that will allow AFMC users to post documents on secure Web sites.
C2.
air ambulance n. an aircraft used to transport sick or injured people; cf. ambulance aeroplane n. at ambulance n. Compounds 2.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > aircraft for other specific uses
ambulance aeroplane1915
ambulance airplane1918
ambulance plane1918
air ambulance1920
firebomber1938
crop-duster1939
grasshopper1939
water bomber1956
weather plane1962
bird dog1965
1920 Times 9 Feb. 10/2 The use of the aeroplane may make possible the application of cooperative principles to medicine in the tropics... The patients will be brought for treatment by air ambulances.
1977 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 12 May 14/3 The town's hospital houses 90 to 100 people and an air ambulance takes any major surgery cases to Edmonton.
2001 Sugar Feb. 59/1 A week later, I was flown to England in an air ambulance—it was still too dangerous for me to travel home normally.
air arm n. an airborne division of a land army or naval force; cf. Fleet Air Arm at fleet n.1 1d.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > air force > [noun] > branches of
air arm1913
W.R.A.F1918
Fleet Air Arm1923
Bomber Command1939
WAAF1939
Coastal Command1940
Air Training Corps1941
Fighter Command1941
WASP1943
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > unit of army > [noun] > division
battle1330
left winga1450
right winga1450
parsmenta1522
partimenta1522
battalion1589
division1600
battaliaa1616
fight1622
army unit1847
mobile unit1896
air arm1913
reaction force1923
1913 Times 31 Mar. 7/2 Further details of the new German Army Bill are now available... Special provision is made for the development of the air arm.
1917 Flying 19 Sept. 129/2 Why not remove the ‘air arm’ at once from ‘the naval and military control’?
1940 E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 7 The Navy has its own air arm designed to work with the ships of the Fleet.
1994 T. Clancy Debt of Honor xli. 629 Task Force 77, titularly the main air arm of Pacific Fleet.
air armament n. the forces, aircraft, and other equipment belonging to an air force; the equipping or strengthening of an air force.
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1918 Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator 7 Aug. 4/2 Superiority of the air armament was well established by the Allies.
1954 W. Lewis Self Condemned iv. 42 Their secret service provided them with information of the progress of Herr Hitler's tremendous air-armament.
2003 H. Trischler in M. Szöllösi-Janze Sci. in Third Reich 104 During the crisis of air armament in the middle of the war, the regime abandoned this approach and returned to the pre-war model that gave greater autonomy to the scientists.
air ball n. (a) a ball or balloon inflated with air, esp. one used as a toy; (b) Basketball a missed shot which fails to hit the rim or backboard.
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society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > ball or balloon > [noun]
ball?c1225
wind-ball1578
toss-ball1681
air ball1756
balloon1800
poi1817
gum ball1855
air balloon1883
beach-ball1940
1756 T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. II. 1 Heat made the air-ball descend.
1783 W. Cowper Let. 23 Sept. (1981) II. 162 French Philosophers amuse themselves, and, according to their own phrase, cover themselves with glory, by inventing Air-balls which by their own buoyancy, acend [sic] above the clouds.
1869 Eng. Mech. 24 Sept. 29/2 The India-rubber coloured air-balls, which are sold at fairs.
1881 M. E. Braddon Asphodel I. 17 Children..flying gaudy-coloured air-balls.
1929 Mind New Ser. 38 346 Geometrically we may illustrate the series by..boundaries successively occupied by an india-rubber air ball while it is being blown up.
1967 Daily Rev. (Hayward, Calif.) 29 Jan. iii. 1/3 Cal State, four times lofting air balls at an orange basket that may as well have been painted invisible.
1999 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 6 May 20 Revolutionary new chair boasts an air ball seat that claims to reduce pressure on the back.
2003 Boston Globe 30 Apr. (Metropolitan ed.) f8/3 [He] missed all three of his shots, one of them an airball.
airbase n. a base for the operation of military aircraft.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > station or base
station1911
airbase1913
bird farm1942
bomber base1959
1913 Times 14 Apr. 6/2 The new stations will be equipped with the latest types of machines, and when commissioned the Admiralty will have four air bases.
1938 Flight 34 424 e/2 The cost of the Shannon air base..will be close on half a million pounds.
2004 Asian Age 15 June (London ed.) 3/3 The two stopovers in Canada will be at Winnipeg and Edmonton, while the fighters will halt at Decimomannu air base in Sardinia, among others.
air battery n. a dry cell or battery in which current is generated by the oxidization in air of an electrode (usually one of zinc).
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > galvanism, voltaism > voltaic or galvanic battery > [noun] > dry battery
air battery1873
1873 Proc. Royal Soc. 1872–3 21 252 The practical interest of our arrangement lies in the fact that it is an approximation towards a constant air-battery.
1943 Chem. Abstr. 37 3354 In practical performance such ‘air batteries’ have excelled the best pyrolusite (Leclanché) batteries.
2005 Jrnl. Power Sources 150 262/1 Three kinds of air batteries are interesting, viz., Fe/air, Zn/air and Al/air.
air bearing n. Mechanics a bearing consisting of a jet of compressed air.
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the world > space > relative position > support > [noun] > that which supports > other specific types of apparatus offering support
air bearing1909
1909 U.S. Patent 930,851 1/1 This invention relates to improvements in air bearings for high speeds and is especially applicable to spinning..machines.
1949 M. C. Shaw & E. F. Macks Anal. & Lubrication of Bearings viii. 330 Although Hirn first mentioned the possibility of using air as a lubricant in 1855, Kingsbury was the first to carry out an actual experimental investigation of the hydrodynamic lubrication of an air bearing.
2003 Outdoor Photographer June 70/3 The spinning disk inside a Microdrive uses air bearings, which will stop working in the rarified atmosphere above about 3,000 meters.
air bed n. a mattress inflated with air.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > types of bed > [noun] > air-bed
wind-bed1575
air bed1809
air mattress1834
rheocline1851
Li-Lo1936
1809 J. Addie Hints respecting Constr. Bags confining Atmospheric Air 6 I will suppose the Air bed..inflated by means of a common pair of bellows... On this Air bed, the soldier might repose on any soil, without hazard of damp, on an elastic pliant substance.
1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. New Ser. 1 436 Addie (John, M.D.) His hints on the construction of air-beds.
1859 W. Gregory Egypt & Tunis II. 204 We were lent two air-beds by friends.
1919 Outing Mar. 334/2 The air bed is four feet long... A pump is not necessary.
1995 Independent (Nexis) 3 Aug. 2 On one Sunday the Rye Harbour lifeboat in Sussex rescued 28 children and adults swept out to sea on inflatable toys and airbeds.
air blitz n. a sudden, violent, and concerted attack by air; cf. blitz n. a.
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1940 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 4 May 2 a/5 (heading) Hitler decorates air ‘blitz’ generals.
2006 Mirror (Nexis) 17 Mar. 11 Crack SAS fighters joined with an American Delta Force team yesterday to spearhead the biggest air blitz on Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
† air-bloomery n. Metallurgy Obsolete a primitive kind of smelting furnace consisting of a conical structure with openings at the top and bottom to allow the passage of air.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > furnace or kiln > furnace > [noun] > furnaces for melting or refining metals > furnaces for treating iron
string-hearth1409
smithy1565
bloomery1584
chafery1663
air-bloomery1825
blast-bloomery1860
scrap-furnace1861
block-furnace-
1825 Glasgow Mechanics' Mag. 26 Feb. 42/2 In the air-bloomery, the ore being in contact with the charcoal was deprived of its oxygen.
1860 W. Fordyce Hist. Coal 110 The first smelting furnace..was undoubtedly the Air-Bloomery, a low conical structure, with small openings at the bottom for the admission of air, and a larger orifice at the top for carrying off the gaseous products of combustion.
air bomb n. a bomb designed to be used in the air, or dropped from an aircraft.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > explosive device > [noun] > bomb > aerial
air bomb1914
blockbuster1942
cookie1942
1914 Sci. Amer. 15 Aug. 113/2 (heading) The Air Bomb.
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War v. ii. 172 The Germans..were prepared to use every instrument..drifting mines, air bombs.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 54 And most murderous of all devices Are poison gases and air-bombs Refinements of evil.
2007 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union (Nexis) 28 Apr. Kh-29L and Kh-25ML missiles, KAB-500Kr guided air bombs and other weapons are carried by the Su-25SM.
air bomber n. (a) a person who aims bombs launched or dropped from an aircraft; (b) = bomber n. 2.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > airman > [noun] > aircrew with specific duties
observer1870
strafer1915
air gunner1916
air bomber1918
gunner1918
rear gunner1918
bombardier1932
bomb-aimer1935
tail gunner1939
tail-end Charlie1941
arse-end Charlie1942
waist-gunner1942
spotter pilot1944
1918 Times 16 Nov. 9/5 Lille is practically uninjured, except, perhaps, round the station, where the air bombers sought and found the railway communications.
1928 Times 3 May 9/2 A Royal Air Force Virginia air-bomber from the No. 9 Bombing Squadron at Manston, near Ramsgate,..got into difficulties and crashed into a wood.
1936 Times 3 Mar. 12/3 I am not concerned to-day with the optimistic views of the air bomber as to what he can do to the big battleship, nor with the latter's estimate as to how much he will leave of the air bomber.
1943 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 17 Feb.–11 May 101 We now group pilots, navigators and air bombers together on entry into the Service.
1994 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 2 July a14/3 Five air bombers dropped load after load of slurry, which did little more than temporarily slow the fire's pace.
2007 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 9 May s3 He served as an air bomber on 33 missions over enemy territory.
air-bombing n. the practice of bombing from the air; an instance of this.
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1916 Times 11 Aug. 8/3 Yesterday and last night our air bombing squadrons carried out the following operations.
1978 U.S. News & World Rep. (Nexis) 27 Mar. 23 Terrorist assaults on Israeli border settlements triggered three days of air bombing and rocket attacks on Palestinian settlements in Lebanon.
2007 Toronto Star (Nexis) 12 Apr. a19 The vulnerability of the Afghans is reinforced by NATO air bombings, 2,000 last year, which killed about 4,000 people.
air bone n. Zoology (now rare) a hollow bone containing air, as characteristic of birds.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > constituent materials > [noun] > hollow bone for reception of air
air bone1827
1827 in W. Lawrence tr. J. F. Blumenbach Man. Compar. Anat. (ed. 2) xiv. 179 Frequently the external walls of the air-bones are so thin that their internal cells can be very well seen.
1878 Lancet 16 Mar. 405/2 The principle of the hollow column is beautifully illustrated in the hollow air-bones of birds.
1986 Bone 7 356/1 In mature mail Japanese quail estrogen-induced medullary bone occurs only on endosteal surfaces of bones containing hematopoietic (red) marrow but not fatty marrow or in air bones.
air-brick n. a perforated brick or other insert in the wall of a building, used for ventilation.
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1835 Times 1 Apr. 8/5 (advt.) To sell by auction..large quantity of iron railing, iron air bricks, coal plates, and a quantity of old iron.
1859 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 22 Apr. 390/2 Patent Stoneware Air Bricks; George Jennings.
1944 E. Lucas in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder ii. 57/1 If the wall is more than 4½-in. thick it is necessary to lay a slate over the opening at the rear of the air brick to provide support for the mortar bed of the course above.
2003 Guardian 3 Jan. i. 5/4 Insurance companies are likely to start demanding flood barriers for doors, floodproof covers for air bricks or giant impermeable skirts around houses.
air bridge n. [in quot. 1948 after German Luftbrücke airlift (1948, originally and chiefly with reference to the Berlin airlift 1948–9), itself after airlift n.] (a) a link between points provided by air transport; (b) (at an airport) a movable covered bridge to enable passengers to cross directly between the terminal and an aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun] > link provided by
air bridge1939
society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > airport > portable bridge
air bridge1939
jetty1967
1939 Sun (Baltimore) 17 Apr. 9/1 The New Zealand service will constitute the air line's second ‘air bridge’ of the Pacific.
1948 Newsweek 9 Aug. 27/1 The Berlin ‘air bridge’—as the Germans call it—claimed its first American victims on July 9.
1976 Times 17 May 12 Access to the aircraft from the beehive [sc. a passenger terminal] was through canvas tunnels, the forerunners of today's movable air bridges.
1992 Tourism Managem. June 186/2 Manufacturers of the latest turbo-props are making efforts to render their machines compatible with standard (jetway) airbridges in use at major airports.
2001 Wall St. Jrnl. 15 Oct. a24/6 Though Iran protested the U.S. bombing, it could help the U.N. start an air bridge of humanitarian aid to that area [sc. Afghanistan's central highlands].
air bubble n. a small bubble of air within a liquid; (Photography) = air-bell n. 2.
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the world > matter > gas > gas or air in liquid or effervescence > [noun] > a) bubble(s)
scuma1250
boilounc1320
bubblea1350
burblec1350
blubberc1440
bell1483
blobc1540
bull1561
bleb1647
blab1656
air bubble1756
air-bell1806
gas bubble1809
sprot1846
mousse1863
1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching ii. iv. 76 A few hours after it has been there, air-bubbles arise, the liquor swells, and a thick scum is formed.
1766 Philos. Trans. 1765 (Royal Soc.) 55 220 Air-bubbles adhering to the insides of the bottles.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §6. 45 The minute air-bubbles which incessantly escape from the glacier.
1889 G. M. Hopkins Exper. Sci. (1893) xv. 323 Transparent spots (pinholes) are caused by dust or air bubbles formed in development.
1924 J. B. Cohen Pract. Org. Chem. (ed. 3) 101 This may be moderated..by driving a rapid stream of fine air-bubbles through the liquid.
2003 M. Belson On the Press v. 140 It was then pressure-rolled into contact with a squeegee rubber roller to ensure flatness and to remove any air bubbles which might have formed.
air-burst n. the bursting of a shell or bomb in the air.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [noun] > bursting violently from rest or restraint > exploding
fulminating1648
fulmination1651
exploding1790
air-burst1917
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > air operation > bombing raid > dropping of bombs > bursting of bomb in air
air-burst1917
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > management of artillery > [noun] > an artillery shot > bursting of shell in air
air-burst1917
1917 ‘Dixhuit’ Artillery Experience v. 62 Air-bursts of shrapnel are conspicuous.
1950 in Effects of Atomic Weapons (Los Alamos Scient. Lab.) ii. 30 The brownish or peachlike tint of the cloud which has been reported, particularly in the Bikini ‘Able’ airburst, is apparently due to nitrogen dioxide.
2006 Foreign Affairs Mar. 50 Currently, the warheads can be detonated only as air bursts well above ground, but the new fuse will also permit ground bursts.
air-burst v. intransitive (of a shell or bomb) to burst in the air.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > attack with aircraft [verb (intransitive)] > of explosive device: burst in air
air-burst1946
1946 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 50 486/1 This particular rocket..air burst over Sweden.
1996 P. Godwin Mukiwa (1997) xv. 287 One fell way short, and the other whizzed over our heads and air-burst behind us.
airbus n. (also with capital initials) (a proprietary name for) an aircraft designed to carry large numbers of passengers.
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1910 Times 4 May 11/6 Probably when there are air-buses we shall call their drivers airmen.
1960 Aeroplane 98 468/1 A subsonic short- to medium-stage high passenger-density aircraft, for operation at low fares. This we call the Air-Bus.
1975 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 9 June 13 Lufthansa airlines has reconfirmed its order for three Airbus Industrie A-300B wide-body transports, and has taken options on five more Airbuses.
1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parl. of Whores (1992) 181 It was an Aegis guided-missile cruiser, the USS Vincennes , that obliterated an Iranian airbus full of civilians over the Persian Gulf in 1988.
air canal n. a passage through which air can penetrate; (Botany) a continuous airspace in the stem, petiole, root, etc., of an aquatic or semiaquatic plant (cf. lacuna n. 2e).
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the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > petiole or leaf-stalk > [noun] > other parts of
air canal1758
1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature ii. vi. 109/2 They give little air canals [Du. lucht-ader; L. trachea], not only to the stomach but to all the external as well as internal parts of the body.
1857 A. Henfrey Elem. Course Bot. §734 Air-canals are long tubular channels, in petioles, or stems, bounded by a cellular wall.
1882 J. Scott & J. C. Morton Soil of Farm iv. 29 When the soil is drained, the superfluous water flows off through the air canals.
1995 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 82 1345/1 Abundant air canals, round to hexagonal in cross section run parallel throughout the length of the root.
air cane n. a walking stick in which an air gun is concealed.
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1796 Trial R. T. Crossfield for High Treason 137 I should have made my air cane or air gun, if I had made it with the piston entirely in the hand, that nobody should have seen it.
1854 Poultry Chron. 1 389 Hidden in a secluded corner was an air-cane, the air receptacle being still partially charged.
1992 Independent 23 Nov. 2/4 (caption) The change in the law..will outlaw any weapon disguised as something else, including air canes, umbrella shotguns,..and belt buckle pistols.
air capacitor n. Electronics a capacitor that has air as the dielectric and hence has a small dielectric loss, used esp. for tuning radio-frequency circuits.
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1926 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers 45 746/1 The usual methods of application are: (1) The compensated dynamometer wattmeter method, with air capacitor.
1939 Nature 9 Sept. 458/2 The mica capacitor was compared by alternating current with an air capacitor, the capacitance of which can be evaluated in terms of resistance and time.
2003 R. L. Goodman How Electronic Things Work (ed. 2) i. 11 The tuned circuit..shows a variable air capacitor with a small trimmer capacitor across it, as used in a radio to select the various station frequencies.
air car n. a (frequently hypothetical) small passenger aircraft; (in quot. 1962) a hovercraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun]
air car1829
aeroplane1868
orange crate1889
aerodrome1891
aerocurve1894
airplane1906
drome1908
plane1908
kite1909
bus1910
1829 Mechanics' Mag. 11 181 The airiner has time, in all cases (assuming that the air-car is air-worthy) to concert proper measures for his safe descent.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 8 July 5/1 Five hundred ten-pound notes will enable Mr. George L. O. Davidson to commence the construction of his air-car, which will be capable of lifting itself into the air and travelling over the ground.
1911 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aeroplane ii. 41 Further developments, in passenger-carrying, are expected during 1911, when ‘air-cars’, carrying four and six occupants as their regular equipment, will be introduced.
1962 Flight Internat. 82 Suppl. 6/3 The air car [i.e. a hovercraft] is capable of operating over land, water, sand, swamps, snow, or thin ice, with equal ease.
1996 AutoWeek (Nexis) 23 Sept. 18 True believers..say that if it weren't for FAA over-regulation, and clumsy and antiquated hardware, real user-friendly aircars would replace our ground-bound relics.
air carrier n. (a) a company which conveys cargo or passengers by air for a fee; (b) = aircraft carrier n. at aircraft n. Compounds 2.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > aircraft carrier
air carrier1915
aircraft carrier1917
carrier1919
bird farm1942
through-deck cruiser1969
1915 Sandusky (Ohio) Reg. 1 Oct. 4/2 Aerial freight lines to South America.., the wiping out of international frontiers by swift air carriers.
1920 Proc. Air Conf. 99 in Parl. Papers 1921 (Cmd. 1157) VIII. 299 Air carriers were designed and commissioned towards the end of the war.
1996 India Today 30 June 122/3 We aim to become the largest private air carrier in India.
2002 Objector Summer 10/1 I'm not working behind a desk, I'm on a flight deck of an air carrier.
air casing n. Engineering an air-filled casing surrounding a boiler, combustion chamber, etc., usually to reduce loss of heat to the surroundings or to facilitate heat transfer to the air inside it.
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1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Engine Explained 129 gg, is the air casing, surrounding the chimney E; h, is the damper.
1924 Times 18 July 7/6 [For certain American destroyers] the Navy Department has authorized the installation of forced draught burners and boiler air casing.
2006 U.S. Fed News (Nexis) 17 Oct. The boiler technician of the watch..saw water leaking inside an air casing during his watch on Oct. 9.
air castle n. a ‘castle in the air’, a visionary or baseless project.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun]
castle in Spainc1400
reverie1477
brown studyc1555
castle in the skies1576
castle in the air1579
comedown1583
memento1587
towers in the air1599
daydream1651
dream1732
air castle1786
châteaux in air1793
chateau(x) en Espagne1834
cloud-castle1887
pipe dream1890
fantasy1926
1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscretions III. 157 He..accompanied him back to Orange Street, to the entire destruction of all Janet's air castles.
1795 T. Wilkinson Wandering Patentee I. 22 By attempting a visionary comparison, which has just now struck my air-castle imagination.
1833 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. viii, in Fraser's Mag. Dec. 675/2 High Air-castles are cunningly built of Words.
1887 H. H. Jackson Between Whiles i. 18 It was a sad come-down from his old air-castles for her and for himself.
1919 J. Thurber Let. 24 Sept. (2002) 34 Air castles must be torn down, those mushrooms of a minute's dream, and a slow and labored foundation begun on the old site.
1996 City Paper (Baltimore) 4 Dec. 25/1 The utopian purple air castles he conjured in his music.
air cavity n. an air-filled pocket or passage; cf. air canal n.
ΚΠ
1797 R. Bree Pract. Inq. Disordered Respiration ii. vii. 117 The air cavities of the lungs were found to be filled with frothy serum.
1849 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. May 413 A species of gigantic bulrush, the stem of which is tender and filled with air cavities.
1893 T. R. R. Stebbing Hist. Crustacea xxvii. 423 The four developed branchial opercula all contain ramified air-cavities.
1904 Burlington Mag. Feb. 141/1 Immediately under the bowl at the top of the stem is an air cavity, known as a ‘tear-drop’,..a very frequent form of decoration.
1998 D. Almond Skellig xvii. 58 The presence of air cavities within the bone is known as pneumatisation.
air channel n. a channel for the passage of air.
ΚΠ
1764 Museum Rusticum 2 234 I take..the Precaution of making proper vents or air-channels in different parts of the stack, lest it should suddenly fire.
1840 C. Howard Farming at Ridgemont 140 A tunnel is formed by placing a wooden pipe..exactly over the centre of the air-channel.
1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. iv. 96 These contain air-channels..which run within the bodies of elongated cells.
2001 Outside Oct. 108/3 Nicely curved shoulder straps and a dual-density hipbelt ally for comfort with a broad back panel (which, made from closed-cell foam, is a bit sweaty in hot weather, even with the air channels).
air check n. chiefly U.S. a recording made from a (radio) broadcast, spec. one used to demonstrate the work of a particular performer.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > a recording > specific
pen recording1923
re-edit1924
air check1938
rough edit1958
1938 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 5 Apr. 9/5 I have a recording machine at home and I never miss making air-checks of your ‘Good News’ numbers.
1984 Broadcast 7 Dec. 59/2 (advt.) Ability to read live advertisements fluently is essential. Please send air-check to Radio Nova.
2004 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 9 May vii. 15/4 Filling out the disc are three air-checks from live Carnegie Hall performances.
Air Chief Marshal n. (also with lower-case initials) (the title of) a high rank of officer in the Royal Air Force, above air marshal and below Marshal of the Royal Air Force.
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1919 Times 4 Aug. 12/6 His Majesty..has approved of new titles for the commissioned ranks of the Royal Air Force. These are..Marshal of the Air, Air Chief-Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Vice-Marshal...It will probably be some time before we have a Marshal of the Air, as at present there is no officer of the rank of either Air Chief-Marshal or Air Marshal.
1998 Express 9 Apr. 7/2 Top brass—including Admiral Sir Jock Slater, the First Sea Lord, and Air Chief Marshal Sir John Willis—appeared as defence witnesses in a court martial that has shaken the military to its roots.
air circus n. [compare circus n. 2d] (a) an aerial display; (b) an air display or pageant; (c) a squadron of aeroplanes.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > aerobatics > [noun] > air display
air pageant1785
air circus1907
air show1912
society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > person in control of aircraft or spacecraft > person in control of aircraft > group engaged in skilful or spectacular flying
air circus1907
circus1917
flying circus-
1907 Billboard 25 Feb. 85/3 Fair secretaries, celebration committees—do you want a real box office attraction? Wilde's Air Circus.
1925 St. Nicholas Nov. 88/1 One day there was a big air circus at Lakehurst.
1932 Flight 24 1227/1 His ‘Air Circus’ carried 250,000 passengers.
1940 D. Wheatley Faked Passports viii. 94 After the Armistice he [sc. Goering] was ordered to surrender the planes of his famous air-circus to the Americans.
1952 Chambers's Jrnl. May 261/2 It is not so very long ago since parachute-jumping was a stunt indulged in by steel-nerved men of boundless courage performing in air circuses.
2007 Kent & Sussex Courier (Nexis) 8 June 32 She showed me a photo of her about to take off in the rear cockpit of one of those string and canvas air circus planes.
air cock n. Engineering a stopcock for letting air out or in.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > control(s) > [noun] > valve > others
washer1596
turncock1702
air cock1709
Jack-in-the-box1728
runner1754
stop-valve1829
three-way cock1838
ball valve1839
relief valve1846
poppet valve1851
plunger valve1854
pot-lid1856
reflux valve1857
screw-down1864
mica valve1880
tide flap1884
tube-valve1884
swing-tap1892
relay valve1894
Schrader1895
pilot valve1900
mixer valve1904
spool valve1908
spill valve1922
safety valving1930
three-way1939
1709 F. Hauksbee Physico-mech. Exper. 4 The Air-cock..which lets in the Air, is..a screw on the same fore-mention'd perforated Brass.
1806 W. Henry Epitome Chem. (ed. 4) i. v. 54 It will be found convenient also to have an air-cock.
1911 J. B. Rathbun Gas Engine Troubles & Installation viii. 329 It would be well to provide an air cock at the highest point in the line in order that all of the water can drain out as soon as the drain cock is opened.
1992 Pract. Householder Nov. 29/1 Never undo the air cock more than a turn or you risk losing the pin.
Air Commodore n. (the title of) a rank of officer in the Royal Air Force, above group captain and below air vice-marshal.
ΚΠ
1919 Flight 11 1044 His Majesty..has approved of new titles for the commissioned ranks of the Royal Air Force..Air Commodore.
1920 Flight 12 113/1 The chair will be taken at 8 p.m. by Air Commodore E. M. Maitland.
1992 Daily Star 2 July 8/2 Britain's Phantom defence fighters are being phased out this year after serving since the 1960s—‘They are knackered,’ says the Air Commodore.
air compressor n. a device in which air at atmospheric pressure is compressed and delivered at a higher pressure.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air-pressure > compressed or confined air > device for compressing
condenser1728
condensing engine1753
air condenser1815
air compressor1837
air-compressor1874
1837 Mechanics' Mag. 18 Feb. 395 A light but powerful air compressor, as large as a man can conveniently work.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 21 July 4/2 An..ingenious air-compressor, specially designed for use on motor-vehicles.
2002 Fine Woodworking May 10/1 Reading..prompts me to write about a safety issue I don't see addressed often: the placement of air compressors inside the shop.
air control n. (a) control of an area by means of air power (in quot. 1915 spec. to give the correct range for artillery fire); (b) = air traffic control n.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > power of aircraft or forces > control of area by
air control1915
1915 C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aircraft in Great War vi. ii. 271 It was certainly unfortunate for the Germans that, as their air control for artillery grew less effective, that of the Allies should have begun to reach its full efficiency.
1930 Flight 3 Jan. 1 These are the air control of Iraq and the Air Defences of Great Britain.
1933 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 37 31 How would he suggest the air control and ground control should be organised there?
1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 4 Jan. The implementation of bilingual air control for light aircraft using visual flight rules.
2007 Financial Times (Nexis) 21 June 6 Aena, Spain's airport and air control operator.
air corridor n. a route to which aircraft are restricted, esp. one over a foreign country.
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society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > air as medium for operation of aircraft > [noun] > route through the air
skypath1840
airway1873
lane1911
corridor1920
air corridor1922
1922 Flight 14 34/1 (heading) Abolition of Air ‘Corridors’. The regulations which have hitherto been in force relating to the ‘corridors’ by which aircraft might enter and leave the U.K. have now been abolished.
1948 Daily Mail 22 Apr. 1/3 The R.A.F. have introduced air corridors from which Russian and Eastern European planes must not stray as they fly over the British zone of Germany.
1993 Harper's Mar. 37/2 With air corridors to Serbia closed by the international embargo, the quickest way to reach Belgrade was by driving eight hours down the autoput from Budapest.
air course n. Mining a passage for ventilation in a mine; cf. airway n. 1.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > passage > ventilation passages or openings
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
horse-head1747
sollar1778
airway1800
wind-hole1802
bearing door1813
air course1814
downcast shaft1814
upcast shaft (or pit)1816
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
thirl1847
brattice1849
intake1849
run1849
trapdoor1849
skailing1850
return1851
wind-road1860
breakthrough1875
wind-way1875
breast1882
cross-heading1883
skail-door1883
U.C.1883
undercast1883
vent1886
furnace-drift1892
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > ventilator > passage, shaft, duct, or pipe > in a mine
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
airway1800
wind-hole1802
air course1814
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
air heading1841
thirl1847
run1849
wind-road1860
wind-way1875
1814 R. J. Griffith Geol. & Mining Rep. Leinster Coal District 58 The first operation is the cutting a passage or air course between the pits.
1937 Times 6 Feb. 8/5 Work on 14's face should have been stopped at least until a return air-course, far removed from the intake and leading directly to the main return, had been made.
1997 Mining Mag. (Nexis) Dec. 348 In US coal, the regulations require specific ventilation standards that include..less than 2% methane in all air courses and less than 1% methane at the face.
air cover n. protection by aircraft during a military operation.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > air protection of military operation
fire support1896
air cover1941
1941 Times 16 Dec. 2/2 People talk a great deal about lack of air cover. It did not prevent..us from taking our men out of Dunkirk.
1999 Chicago Tribune 30 Jan. i. 10/2 Instead of committing ground troops right away, the Clinton administration ought to offer air cover..to a European ground force.
aircrew n. (a) the crew of an aircraft; (b) (with plural agreement) the members of such a crew collectively.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > airman > [noun] > crew
aircrew1921
1921 Flight 13 477/1 The two University air crews are staying there.
1939 Aeronautics Aug. 5/1 A source of trained men from which the Volunteer Reserve could draw for air-crew training purposes.
1955 Times 25 May 11/7 It has been quite impossible for many young married pilots and aircrew to make proper provision for their dependents.
1984 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 24 Sept. 93/2 The software provides connected-word recognition, which allows aircrews to control a number of cockpit functions by spoken command.
2003 Navy News Sept. 14/1 The squadron was commissioned in 2001 to train aircrew and engineers in every aspect of the Navy's new Merlin helicopter.
air crossing n. Mining a structure for carrying one airway over another in a mine.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > passage > ventilation passages or openings > bridge carrying
air crossing1848
overcast1867
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > ventilator > passage, shaft, duct, or pipe > carrying one air-way over another in mine
air crossing1848
1848 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. 115 Air-crossing, an arch built over a horseway or other road, with a passage or air-way above it.
1911 Act 1 & 2 George V c. 50 §42 (3) All air-crossings shall..be so constructed as not to be liable to be destroyed in the event of an explosion.
1993 Mining Mag. (Nexis) Apr. 201 Sprayed concrete, generally known as ‘shotcrete’, is used in underground mines..to seal ventilation door surrounds and air crossings.
air curtain n. a sheet or wall of compressed air blown across an opening or space, esp. a doorway.
ΚΠ
1894 U.S. Patent 529,795 2/2 Beneath and beyond the air curtain the fuel is incandescent.
1955 Heating, Piping & Air Conditioning 27 83/3 The air curtain will be strong enough to prevent entry of outside air, yet shoppers will pass through.
2003 Jrnl. Cell Biol. 160 681 For confocal microscopy experiments, temperature was controlled using an air curtain.
air dam n. a streamlining device below the front bumper of a motor vehicle, a front spoiler (spoiler n. 3b).
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > body or bodywork > structures to reduce drag or lift
fairing1936
spoiler1963
aerofoil1966
air dam1970
skirt1974
1970 Valley News (Van Nuys, Calif.) 7 Apr. (W. Valley ed.) b4 Combination of front air dam and side air extractors is responsible for creating 50 pounds of downward pressure on front end at freeway speeds.
1984 Daily Tel. 7 Mar. 14/5 Ventilated disc brakes are now fitted to all four wheels with the air dam being re-designed to allow a cooling flow to front brakes.
2001 Road & Track Aug. 65/1 The front air dam sits millimeters off the road and effectively provides large amounts of front downforce at high speed.
air-dammed adj. fitted with an air dam.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor car > [adjective] > with specific body appendages
fin-tailed1959
air-dammed1976
1976 Scotsman 24 Dec. 11/1 Inside the air-dammed, aerofoiled saloon car challenger, there's a BMW trying to get out.
2002 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 1 May 8 The skirted, air-dammed and spoilered TS model looks far too OTT to have credibility.
air damper n. (a) = damper n. 3 (now rare); (b) a device using compressed air to damp mechanical vibrations.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > devices for heating buildings, rooms, etc. > chimney > plate or hood to control draught
cowc1736
hood1750
damping1756
damper1788
air damper1794
cowl1812
back-draught1825
mitre1890
1794 J. Southern Let. 28 Apr. in W. B. Crump Leeds Woollen Industry 1780–1820 (1931) 214 I find not any order for other pumps than the air dampers which have been long sent off.
1872 U.S. Patent 131,681 1/1 a indicates the furnace-grate; b, the ash-pit;..and e, an air damper above the fire for admitting air to cool the fire when too hot.
1914 Times 11 Feb. 38/3 The chief addition being an arrangement which enables the gas-examiner to adjust the position of the air damper of the standard Argand burner without leaving his seat.
1927 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments 4 227 An air damper m is provided underneath the base, and of course the two plates of this are provided with vertical adjustment.
1989 R. Dryer & G. Lata Exper. Biochem. i. i. 10 A system of closed, lightweight cylinders which serve as an air damper to slow the moving parts.
air dash n. a quick journey by air, esp. in response to an emergency or crisis.
ΚΠ
1922 Times 9 Oct. 12/1 (heading) General's air dash to Constantinople.
1982 K. Singh Heir Apparent I. xii. 157 Any suspicions that may have been raised by my airdash to Delhi.
2007 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 5 Jan. 3 A Western Isles fisherman was reported to be ‘very seriously ill’ in a Glasgow hospital..following an emergency air dash to save his life.
airdash v. Indian English intransitive to make a quick journey by air, esp. in response to an emergency or crisis; (also occasionally transitive) to send (a person) on such a journey.
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1968 K. P. Choudhury Anti-state Activities 15 Some muslim air-pilot betrayed audacity to air-dash two of our valiant Army Heads to Pakistan and he was alleged to have been shot dead thereafter.
1973 Hindustan Times Weekly 25 Mar. 1 Governor B. K. Nehru, who airdashed to Shillong yesterday, flew back to Imphal today.
2002 Hindu (Nexis) 14 Jan. It is time for the Prime Minister..to airdash to London.
air Derby n. a race for light aircraft; cf. Derby n. 1d.
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1914 Whitaker's Almanack 822/2 Air ‘Derby’ round London (94½ miles).
1982 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 13 July 15 The women's first Air Derby was on, and I figured aviation was here to stay, so I got my license.
2007 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 22 June a1 This is her first air derby. And the breaks between air race checkpoints are laborious.
air door n. Mining a door in a mine, normally kept closed, which separates an intake airway from a return airway.
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1846 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 9 17 Child caught cold by attending an air-door.
1923 Times 8 Nov. 2/4 All the overmen were killed—one whilst proceeding to acquaint his superior of the state of the mine, and another whilst proceeding to an air-door to admit fresh air.
2007 Evening Post (Nottingham) (Nexis) 7 May 22 I eventually found Jimmy [sc. a pony] dead with a broken neck. He hit the brickwork supporting an air door.
air drag n. resistance to the passage of an object through the air.
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1920 L. Bairstow Appl. Aerodynamics ii. 56 (caption) Air drag.
1941 W. Nelson Airplane Lofting i. 11 The float as a whole is shaped to give as little air drag as is consistent with its other functions.
1991 Bicycle Guide Sept. 61/2 Fewer spokes, combined with the wheel's smaller profile, reduce air drag, draining less rider power.
air draught n. (also (esp. in sense (b)) air draft) (a) = draught n. 24a, 24b; (b) Nautical the maximum height of a vessel, from the waterline when unladen to the topmost point; the overhead clearance required beneath a bridge, etc., for a vessel to pass under; cf. draught n. 19.
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the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > a movement of air > a current of air
windc1000
air-current1600
streama1722
draughta1774
air draught1786
waft1863
airstream1869
1786 Edinb. New Dispensatory i. 53 In this furnace a very intense heat may be excited, which the air-draughts will afford the operator means of regulating.
1859 Sci. Amer. 16 Apr. 267/4 The air draught through the flues.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 7/1 When the attempt was made to lower the asbestos fire-curtain the air-draught caused it to press against the sides of the proscenium.
1946 W. Pollock Small Vessels 1. 23 Modern small coasters are of shallow draft with the accommodation for officers and crew aft. They have a small air draft with a low funnel and a lowering mast.
1998 Canal Boat & Inland Waterways Aug. 20/2 At 6.5m high, there was scarcely enough air-draught at some of the bridges to allow passage.
air-dried adj. dried by the action of the air.
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the world > matter > liquid > dryness > [adjective] > dried (up) > by exposure to air
well-aired1578
air-dried1851
1851 C. R. Fresenius Man. Qualitative Chem. Anal. ii. iv. 334 About 1,000 grammes of the air-dried soil are used for the preparation of the aqueous extract.
1889 Cent. Dict. Air-dried, dried by or in the air: applied to fruits and materials from which moisture has been removed by exposure to currents of air under natural atmospheric conditions.
1935 Brit. Paper Summer 13/1 A tub-sized air-dried paper for air mail purposes.
1999 New Yorker 12 Apr. 12/2 It's a good idea to start slowly, with the house salad..or a few ruby slices of deeply flavorful viande des Grisons , air-dried Swiss beef.
air drill n. (a) a drill activated by the force of compressed air; (b) training, exercise, or practised procedure in an (esp. military) aircraft.
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1901 M. M. Kirkman Locomotive Appliances 475 (caption) Piston air drill for drilling, reaming and tapping on locomotive work.
1932 Flight 24 584/2 A squadron of ‘Furies’ was given just 15 minutes in which to show off their air drill.
1998 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 11 Aug. a4/4 He told his parents that he wanted to buy an air compressor and an air drill for the mining operation.
air-driven adj. actuated by means of compressed air.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pump > [adjective] > type of pump
hydropultic1866
air-driven1875
1875 Scribner's Monthly May 126/2 These air-driven drills have now come into common use.
1897 Daily News 1 Nov. 7/1 The air-driven hydraulic pump.
1949 A. C. Walshaw Heat Engines (ed. 3) xv. 294 The leads to the various air-driven parts are usually tapped off a main which conveys the air from a reservoir.
1992 Harrowsmith Aug. 62/2 An entire condominium roof shingled with air-driven staplers was deshingled by a windstorm a week later.
airdrop n. (a) a delivery of supplies, troops, equipment, etc., from an aircraft in flight, esp. by parachute drop; (b) Surfing (usually as two words) an occasion or event in which surfer and board lose contact with the wave (either accidentally or intentionally) immediately after take-off on a steep face, free-falling through the air until regaining contact at the bottom of the wave.
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society > armed hostility > military organization > logistics > [noun] > transporting
trooping1809
M.T.C.1942
airdrop1943
airlift1943
fly-in1943
airlifting1949
society > travel > air or space travel > parachuting > [noun] > dropping by parachute
parachute drop1928
airdrop1943
drop1943
supply drop1943
parachutage1944
paradropping1944
paradrop1945
1943 Times 24 May 5/7 The contingent..remained together for several days until the first major air drop had been successfully made.
1958 N.Z. News 1 July 4/1 An airdrop of prefabricated sections for ten bivouacs..was made by the New Zealand Forest Service.
1988 Body Boarding Jan. 60 Wave faces at Newport are sometimes so vertical that the controlled air drop is the modus operandi.
1991 R. King Rad Boards xv. 60/2 On a really steep wave you could find yourself out of the water in a ‘free fall’, or ‘air drop’.
2001 U.S. News & World Rep. 22 Oct. 28/3 An airdrop of thousands of bright-yellow HDRs [sc. Humanitarian Daily Rations]..labeled ‘A Food Gift From the People of the United States of America’.
2015 Cape Argus (Nexis) 12 Dec. (Sports section) 27 Shane Dorian pulled off a horribly hairy air drop... As he starts to drop, his board disengages from the water..[and] he disengages with his board.
airdrop v. transitive and intransitive to drop from an aircraft in flight, esp. by parachute.
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1948 Times 9 Jan. 5/5 I happened to be in Thebes at the time that General Scobie's manifesto was air-dropped.
1966 H. Harrison Plague from Space iii. 33 We had airdropped in during the night.
1992 News Jrnl. (Wilmington, Delaware) 18 Aug. a7/3 Do we airdrop guns and ammunition to permit the Muslims to defend themselves a little longer against a brutal ‘ethnic cleansing’?
air-dropped adj. (of troops, supplies, equipment, etc.) dropped from an aircraft in flight, esp. by parachute.
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1921 Times 31 Oct. 6/2 We were told a year or more ago that the submarine has killed the battleship; within the last few days we have been told..that the air-dropped bomb has effected the same thing.]
1944 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 27 Jan. d3/3 American airplanes flew low overhead and began to drop supplies. Without these air-dropped supplies the whole operation would have been impossible.
2001 Big Issue 5 Mar. 7/1 Weapons in the form of rifles, helicopter-mounted long range guns and air-dropped acoustic mines.
air-dropping n. the practice of dropping troops, supplies, equipment, etc., from an aircraft in flight, esp. by parachute.
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1944 Times 23 Nov. 5/7 More than half the troops..are continuously supplied by air, the majority by air-dropping, which has been developed to a fine art in this theatre.
2006 Times of India 11 Aug. The group would transfer the messages to the airport, if we receive information on air dropping in some specific areas.
air-dry adj. (esp. of timber) dry to such a degree that on exposure to the air no further moisture is given off.
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the world > matter > liquid > dryness > [adjective] > to specific degree
air-dry1856
1856 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 17 i. 194 I..then allowed it to become air-dry, by keeping it for some days in a safe place, in a heated room.
1949 Gloss. Terms Timber (B.S.I.) 13 In Great Britain the moisture content of air-dry timber may range between 14..and 23 per cent according to the season of the year and the species of timber concerned.
2002 Amer. Woodworker June 83/1 Depending on the species and your climate, it can take from 2 to 12 months to bring 4/4 lumber from green to air-dry.
air-dry v. transitive to dry by the action of air; also occasionally intransitive.
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1874 R. Brown Man. Bot. ii. iv. 211 The red clover..when air-dried contains only 15 per cent [water], hay containing about a similar quantity.
1891 W. Schlich Man. Forestry II. iv. 248 The Ash yields an excellent timber, hard and heavy, specific gravity when air-dried = ·75.
1908 Chambers's Jrnl. July 543/1 Peat which can be air-dried to such an extent that only some 25 per cent of moisture is retained.
1955 F. G. Ashbrook Butchering xii. 230 The Indians in Alaska and Canada still air-dry fish to some extent.
1995 MW: Mod. Woman Jan. 48/2 (advt.) Model Magic, the amazing lightweight modelling compound..air-dries in just a day. No baking required!
2006 Reader's Digest Apr. 59/2 We..use the dishwasher only on the eco-cycle and open the door to air-dry the dishes.
air-drying n. the action or process of drying by means of air.
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1852 Putnam's Home Cycl. III. 337/2 In hot climates air-drying is used; stoves are used in Holland.
1962 F. T. Day Introd. to Paper iv. 47 Air-drying is carried out by passing the paper round skeleton drums with internal air fans.
1999 C. Mendelson Home Comforts ix. 111/2 Air-drying will also fail to accomplish its purposes if you set dishes so they cannot drain properly.
air duct n. [originally after French conduit à air (1744 in the passage translated in quot. 1744)] a duct for the passage of air, esp. (Zoology) one connecting the swim bladder of a fish with its mouth.
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the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > air bladder or parts of
sound1323
swimmer1579
wind-bladder1594
rete1615
swim1638
air bladder1675
swimming-bladder1713
air duct1744
red body1785
swim-bladder1837
fish-maw1840
fish-sound1879
maw1883
red gland1896
1744 tr. G. A. Bazin Nat. Hist. Bees viii. 165 The modern philosophers..have seen those air ducts [Fr. conduits à air], which have a communication through the egg to the exterior air.
1763 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. (ed. 2) II. 1001/1 Air-duct, among ichthyologists, a canal reaching from the air-bladder in fishes to their stomach.
1794 R. Willan Whitehurst's Observ. Ventilation of Rooms ii. 22 It does not..prove effectual without the application of air-ducts.
1873 J. W. Dawson Story Earth & Man v. 100 In the bony pike..there is an extremely large air-bladder..communicating with the mouth by an air-duct.
1951 Biol. Bull. 101 189 Unless the fish has a patent air duct through which to let the gas out (Physostome), it can only very slowly get rid of the gas.
1994 I. Rankin Beggars Banquet (2002) 32 It was a 1973 Ford Capri with tinted windows, an air duct and a spoiler.
air edition n. an edition of a newspaper specially printed on light paper for distribution by airmail.
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society > communication > journalism > journal > newspaper > [noun] > editions of newspaper
special edition1845
library edition1869
extra-special1889
airmail edition1923
bulldog edition1926
final1931
air edition1939
1919 Times 12 Sept. 10/4 An air edition of ‘The Times’... By special arrangement..with the Marconi wireless station,..a complete summary of the news of the day was dispatched... The messages were typed out on sheets of special paper..and at breakfast time..the passengers on the R.33 [airship] received..the first copy of the aerial edition of The Times.]
1939 Times 28 June 9/3 Conveying the newspapers themselves..seemed impossible over long distances unless special air editions, less bulky and weighty, were produced.
1975 Newsweek (Nexis) 2 June 38 Under the stern eye of Cecil Rhodes's portrait, white Rhodesians nestle deep into leather armchairs at the Salisbury Club to sip sherry and riffle through the latest air edition of the London Times.
2003 Post-Courier (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) (Nexis) 12 Nov. 33 The steep increase in aviation charges forced the company to increase the cover price on the air edition of the paper to K1.50 while maintaining the cover price for Port Moresby at K1.
air engine n. Mechanics a piston engine driven by heated or compressed air.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > other types of engine > [noun] > hot-air
air engine1740
Stirling (or Stirling's) engine1845
caloric-engine1854
Carnot engine1937
1740 G. Nelson Wonders of Nature 60 It may as properly be call'd an Air-Engine, because the Air bears a great Part in the Operation... It draws water from the Coal-pits seventy or eighty Fathoms deep.
1807 G. Cayley in Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Dec. 261 I conceive that the form of engine here sketched will be the basis of whatever experience may prove to be additional requisite to perfection in the apparatus of the air engine.
1873 B. Stewart Conservation of Energy iv. 105 The steam-engine, the air-engine, and all varieties of heat engines.
1961 M. G. Say Electr. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 10) xviii. 12 The controller itself consists of a group of cam-operated contactors, the cam-shaft being rotated through a rack-and-pinion gear by an air engine.
2001 T. A. Heppenheimer Brief Hist. Flight ii. 27 Cayley..knew only too well that the steam engines of his day were far too heavy, and placed his hope in an alternative, the air engine.
air escape n. Engineering a valve or other opening through which air is allowed to escape.
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1822 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 6 292 My new safety-lamp..consists of two concentric cylinders of thick glass, the space between being filled with water through a pipe at the top,..having an air-escape aperture on the opposite side.
1869 F. A. P. Barnard Machinery & Processes Industr. Arts in Rep. U.S. Commissioners Paris Univ. Exposition 1867 III. vii. 234 This..valve is an air escape and remains open while the feeder is filling, to prevent back pressure from the confined air.
1984 Jrnl. Dentistry 12 48 The mould was fed with a single ingate sprue with an air escape on the opposite side.
air express n. and adv. (a) n. a service for the rapid transportation of parcels, etc., by air; (b) adv. by air express.
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1911 Wall St. Jrnl. 2 Sept. 1/2 Air express to Canada.
1932 Los Angeles Times 3 Apr. (Mag. section) 9/2 Hollywood is very much ‘air minded’ and practically all films go air express.
1949 R. Chandler Let. 26 Mar. in Sel. Lett. (1987) 158 I'm sending my only copy..by air express today.
1987 S. MacLaine It's All in Playing ix. 113 I even had a sleep tape sent over air-express from San Francisco.
1992 Economist 30 May 75/1 (advt.) The world's largest air express company.
air-express v. transitive to send by air express.
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1935 Helena (Montana) Independent 19 Feb. 7/8 [He] is having a new propellor air-expressed from the East.
2000 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 May 17/3 He was a philosopher who air-expressed his neckties to Paris for cleaning.
air-extractor n. (see quot.).
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the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > ventilator > device for removing foul air
air-extractor1819
extractor fanc1945
1819 Times 2 Sept. 1/1 Robert Howden, Inventor and Patentee of hot air-dispensers, and air-extractors, for warming and ventilating Buildings.
1936 Archit. Rev. 80 p. lviii/1 The removal of smells from kitchens, of steam from bathrooms and of smoke from smokerooms is well worth while and there are a number of air-extractor devices on the market that deserve the consideration of the architect.
2001 S. Strum Barcelona: Guide Archit. ii. 6 Their apartment mailboxes and transparent plastic air extractor have become classics of Catalan design.
air-fall n. Geology the falling to earth of ash, pyroclastic fragments, etc., from the clouds ejected in a volcanic eruption; an instance of this; usually attributive.
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1964 Amer. Mineralogist 49 260 Determinations..are presented in three groups—Table 2, air-fall pumice; Table 3, air-fall ash; and Table 4, ash-flow materials.
1991 Antiquity 65 788/1 No archaeological remains are recorded as sealed by airfall material from either the massive Taupo eruption of c. 1800 b.p. or the Kaharoa eruption.
2007 Jrnl. Volcanol. & Geothermal Res. 161 35 Air-falls and viscous mudflows were discharged from two craters.
air fern n. chiefly U.S. a dried colony of the hydrozoan Sertularia argentea, which when dyed green has a fern-like appearance and is sold for ornament.
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1951 Walla Walla (Washington) Union–Bull. 13 Nov. 14/4 (advt.) Imported Air-Fern, the lovely plant that lives on air alone.
1974 Amer. Fern Jrnl. 64 64 The authors identify the ‘Air Fern’ as the dyed remains of the marine animal Sertularia argentea.., a colonial hydroid of the phylum Coelenterata.
2006 Birmingham (Alabama) News (Nexis) 22 Sept. 10 a If all you have to offer an animal is a bowl of water and a rope tied to a tree, please get an air fern instead.
air ferry n. an aircraft or air service for the conveyance of passengers and goods between certain locations.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > aircraft for goods or passengers
liner1905
tramp1905
airliner1908
taxi1909
taxi plane1909
air ferry1916
air freighter1919
passenger plane1919
air taxi1920
freighter1920
flying boxcar1932
ferry1939
shuttle plane1944
day coach1945
feeder liner1946
charter1959
night coach1959
1916 Aerial Age Weekly 11 Sept. 793 (heading) Air Ferry over Great South Bay.
1932 Flight 24 933/1 The daily air ferry services between Shoreham, Portsmouth and Ryde.
1997 N.Y. Times 22 Apr. b 11/1 Perhaps a leisurely cruise over British castles or the Alps or a gentle air ferry between islands in the South Pacific.
air fight n. a fight which takes place in the air, spec. one using military aircraft.
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1784 H. Walpole in Bk. of Days I. 326 I expect that they [sc. aeronauts] will soon have an air-fight on the clouds.
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air ix. §3 The devastation and ruins of the greatest air fight in the world.
1994 E. Ehm She should Talk iii. 49 The area where I need the most work is using the CF-18 radar effectively in an air fight that has an unknown number of adversaries.
air filter n. an apparatus for extracting extraneous or harmful particles from air.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > ventilation and air-conditioning > [noun] > air-conditioner
air filter1853
air washer1876
air conditioner1909
conditioner1938
1853 Househ. Words 13 Aug. 810/1 Men working in cities would find it always worth while to retain the air-filter supplied to them by nature for the purpose—the mustache and beard around the mouth.
1861 J. Stenhouse (title) The successful application of charcoal air-filters to the ventilation and disinfection of sewers.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 15/2 Air Filter, a protective ventilator consisting of a cloth interwoven with thin brass wire to act as a filter for the air.
1927 Daily Tel. 10 Feb. Motor manufacturers are urged to provide air-filters on all motor vehicles.
1995 Atlantic Dec. 38/3 Mielke's laboratory at Xavier is equipped with a ‘clean room’—a glassed-in area, like a greenhouse, fitted with air filters.
air flue n. a duct or pipe allowing the passage of air; esp. one serving as a vent for a fire or as a means of ventilating a room; cf. air channel n.
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1796 T. Danforth Theory Chimnies & Fire-places 37 The little chimney would be most efficacious with regard to smoke, and the air flue to warmth.
1840 Cottager's Man. 23 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III. Cover to the false or air-flue, which is only kept open during summer to prevent the excessive heat of that season.
1901 F. A. Waugh Fruit Harvesting, Storing, Marketing v. xi. 134 The air flue enters under the foundation and discharges fresh air into the cellar room near the center.
2001 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 25 Oct. 26 They also had to fit around..the emergency access doors, not to mention the air flues, looking like giant exhaust pipes, that entered the biomes.
air-fountain n. (a) a fountain whose jet is raised by compressed air; (b) a column of air which rises rapidly upwards.
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1753 J. Smeaton in Philos. Trans. 1751–2 (Royal Soc.) 47 423 Thus, with a little addition of apparatus, it shews the experiments of the air-fountain, wind-gun, &c.
1836 Times 25 Nov. 2/1 An Air Pump, mounted..so as to produce a more perfect vacuum than is usually obtained; a Copper Air Fountain, with condenser, jets, &c.
1919 Outing Mar. 317/1 There are ruts and bumps in the air—descending currents that drop the plane as though into a hole and ascending currents, or air fountains, that give all the effect of a thank-you-marm.
1972 Times 5 Jan. 6/8 The seeming magic of an ‘Air Fountain’ that keeps a ball suspended in a jet of water is rationally explained in terms of relative pressures.
2003 Business Wire (Nexis) 5 Apr. The concealment of the air conditioning ductwork within the themed atria to provide an ‘air fountain’ cooling system..contributed to the aesthetic objectives of the client.
air-freshener n. a substance or device for freshening the air of a room, vehicle, etc.
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the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > substance or device for freshening air
air-freshener1938
1938 News (Frederick, Maryland) 14 Feb. 9/7 Stick cinnamon is used with certain gums to make an incense and an air freshener.
1949 Good Housek. (N.Y.) Nov. 135/1 Have you ever used an air freshener—a special product that camouflages unpleasant odors with clean countrylike scents?
1962 Which? Mar. 90/1 There are a great many air fresheners on the market, which claim to ‘dispel’, ‘kill’, ‘neutralise’ or ‘suppress’ unwanted smells.
1995 J. Banville Athena 110 Inside it smelled of pine air-freshener, synthetic leather, sweat; I have travelled many times in the back seats of cars like this.
2004 Independent 19 Oct. 23/1 Air fresheners and other household sprays could damage pregnant women and new-born babies.
air frost n. Meteorology an air temperature of 0°C or below; an instance of this; cf. ground frost n. at ground n. Compounds 2a.
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1901 Q. Jrnl. Royal Meteorol. Soc. 27 150 In the last severe winter we had, viz. that of 1894–95, there were at Croydon [in total] 416° of air-frost.
1951 Jrnl. Ecol. 43 50 Stigmas were found to be quite unaffected on mornings following 8–10°F. air frost.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 17/1 Everywhere people still welcome..the paper-lacework of fading gold fronds in autumn, picked out by the first air-frosts.
air fryer n. a small convection oven, typically used to fry foods using very little oil.Airfryer is a proprietary name in the United Kingdom for a cooking appliance of this type.Also with capital initials, esp. in brand names.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > stove or cooker > [noun] > oven > other types of oven
broiling-iron1562
broil-iron1567
apple roaster1637
bread oven1745
pot-oven1750
Dutch oven1769
caboose1779
roaster1796
gas oven1810
kitchen1826
tandoor1840
water oven1848
ti-oven1896
roaster oven1940
1989 U.S. Patent 4,817,509 2 The present air fryer has a short, cylindrical cooking chamber with gentle radii in the upper and lower corners to facilitate smooth air flow.
2013 Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) (Nexis) 22 Nov. The crunchy French fries..are no longer health worries but healthy alternatives with the Philips Air Fryer which uses 80% less fat to cook.
2022 Houston (Texas) Chron. (Nexis) 2 Feb. d1 You name it, someone has probably stuck it into an air fryer—cooked penne for ‘pasta chips’, or whole, shelled eggs for a soft or boiled texture.
air fuelling n. the refuelling of one aircraft by another in flight.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > specific flying operations or procedures > [noun] > refuelling in flight
air fuelling1937
flight refuelling1939
1937 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 41 285 Air fuelling offers another alternative, but the large aerodrome..seems the simplest of all methods of increasing the economy of air transport operation.
1973 Times 16 Nov. 10/2 This range might be greatly extended if China adapted certain aircraft for air fuelling.
2006 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 21 Mar. 25 They assure me that the Israeli air force cannot do the 400 hits without American backup. The air-fuelling problems, given the distances involved, make the obstacles formidable.
air furnace n. Metallurgy a furnace through which a natural current of air carries the flame from the burning fuel at one end, over the charge, and out at the other end.
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1718 Inventory in A. Raistrick Dynasty of Iron Founders (1953) 280 Between upper air furnace & forge. 1 Loom for a bosh.
1777 G. Washington Let. 16 Jan. in Papers (1998) Revolutionary War Ser. VIII. 81 An Air Furnace to be constructed..to hold three thousand Weight of Flux'd Metal.
1873 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 45 455 As..the heating of the crucible was effected in an air-furnace,..it was conceived that some of the sesquioxide of iron might have been reduced to protoxide.
2000 R. B. Gordon Landscape Transformed v. 50 These, with the addition of an air furnace to melt more iron, would suffice for casting the largest cannon wanted by the army.
air gap n. a gap or hole which contains air or through which air can pass; spec. an air-filled space breaking the continuity of an electric or magnetic circuit or of a plumbing system.
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the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > communicating with outside or air
vomica1572
vent-hole1612
vent1617
spiracle1620
spirament1654
air gap1842
porthole1858
1842 Bentley's Misc. 12 12 I proceeded to make myself and my companions at home, pinning, skewering, and otherwise suspending our cloaks and shawls across the various intentional and unintentional air-gaps.
1902 How to make Things 3/2 A miniature flash of lightning breaks through the insulating air-gap between the balls or oscillators.
1961 M. G. Say Electr. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 10) vi. 23 The primary winding..sets up, in the air gap of the regulator, a rotating magnetic field.
1986 W. H. Johnson in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) iv. v. 596 If a slide-in filter is fitted, it should be pushed firmly home after cleaning, to leave no air gaps.
2000 Plumbing Mag. May 24/1 The risks of backflow into the mains is virtually eliminated with the use of a break tank with a Type AA or AB air gap.
air-gapped adj. (a) having an air gap; (b) (of a computer, network, etc.) that is isolated from external networks and connections, usually as a security measure.
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1914 U.S. Patent 1,112,863 1/2 An air gapped non-magnetic disk pivotally supported between said cores and rocked on its pivot by the combined action of said cores.
1960 J. Roberts High Frequency Applic. of Ferrites ii. 29 The effective relative permeability of the air-gapped core is found to be μe = L / L0.
1996 M. C. Libicki in A. D. Campen et al. Cyberwar ii. 95 A computer system that receives no input whatsoever from the outside world (‘air-gapped’) cannot be broken into.
1999 C. Christopoulos & A. Wright Electr. Power Syst. Protection (ed. 2) ii. 81 Current transformers with air-gapped magnetic cores were introduced many years ago.
2013 E. G. Amoroso Cyber Attacks (new ed.) iii. 76 So how does one go about creating a truly air-gapped network?
air-gas n. now historical a mixture of air and a vaporized hydrocarbon mixture (e.g. petroleum), used esp. for lighting.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > organic gases > [noun] > other named
coal gas1806
oil-gas1820
natural gas1825
resin gas1828
powder gas1860
hydrocarbon gasc1865
air-gas1872
fluoroform1876
formene1884
biomethane1947
Sarin1951
the world > matter > light > artificial light > [noun] > material burnt for lighting > specific
air-gas1872
lucigen1887
1872 Times 9 Oct. 13/3 Air-gas manufacture consists in charging a certain liquid compound, termed gasogen, with atmospheric air..thereby obtaining a richly carbonized gas, of the highest illuminating power.
1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 411/1 The application of what is generically termed ‘air-gas’ to domestic uses is one of far-reaching possibilities.
1998 New Scientist 12 Sept. 105/2 Another ‘home-made’ gas used for domestic lighting was prepared from petrol which had been mechanically vaporized and mixed with air to form an inflammable gas known both as ‘air gas’ and ‘petrol gas’.
airgraph n. (also Airgraph) now historical a form of airmail registered by Kodak Ltd., in which the correspondent's letter is photographed on a reduced scale; a letter so transmitted.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > letters, etc., by method of dispatch or conveyance
post-letter1648
ship-letterc1675
by-letter1685
penny-post letter1686
way letter1710
by-night1766
cross-letter1789
twopenny1818
box letter1827
non-paid1829
balloon-letter1870
pigeongram1875
railway letter1891
pneumatogram1894
airmail1918
aerogram1919
airgram1919
air letter1920
pneumatique1924
pneu1926
snail mail1929
aerogramme1934
airgraph1941
1941 Times 22 Apr. 2/4 An experimental ‘airgraph’ letter service is to be introduced..to cheapen and expedite the homeward postal service from British troops in the Middle East.
1941 Sphere 6 Dec. p. i Airgraph letters should be written in black ink.
1945 Comment from Italy (Three Arts Club) 41 For weeks now there had been little for him,—just an occasional Airgraph,—nothing more.
1955 H. Gernsheim & A. Gernsheim Hist. Photogr. 254 The airgraph service which operated between 1941 and 1945, in which by modern microfilm methods myriads of messages were flown between families in England and the fighting services in the four corners of the world.
2004 J. Skilbeck tr. C. Allaz Hist. Air Cargo & Airmail from 18th Cent. iv. i. 148 In spite of its inspiring title, it does not appear that the [American] V-mail met with as much success as the British Airgraph.
air grating n. a grating or perforated plate for the entrance of air under floors, etc.
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1817 Ann. Philos. 9 487 The top and bottom are each composed of one horizontal and one upright air grating.
1873 Times 4 Feb. 11/2 The air grating was shown me through which the hot air was supposed to come in, but whenever I touched this I always found it cold.
1940 Jrnl. Hygiene 40 132 Experiments showing the effect of an air grating on the rate of air change in the two blocks of flats.
1990 Seattle Times (Nexis) 2 Mar. c1 In the past, they have hidden in the small attic and watched through an air grating, then swooped down like Superman.
air hammer n. Mechanics a hammer powered by compressed air.
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1856 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 4 715/1 An air hammer, i. e. , a hammer lifted indirectly by steam..and forced downwards by..compressed air in addition to its own gravity.
1957 W. S. Burroughs Let. 20 Aug. (1993) 364 The whole fucking town is in condition of rebuilding, vibrating with air hammers, bulldozers popping out all over.
2004 Wildlife Art July 122/3 The textured reptilian skin..was achieved with a carbide chisel and an air hammer.
air-harden v. chiefly Metallurgy (a) transitive to harden (esp. steel) by allowing it to cool or stand in air; (b) intransitive to harden through exposure to air.
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1930 Engineering 23 May 680/3 Steel A was air-hardened from 950 deg. C after soaking for 20 minutes.
1973 Ada (Okla.) Sunday News 28 Jan. 10/1 (advt.) Modelling compound with reusable plastic lids. Pliable but will air harden for permanent objects.
2006 D. A. Stephenson & J. S. Agapiou Metal Cutting (ed. 2) 603 High-carbon steels tend to air harden, so that surface integrity problems such as residual stress and white layer formation are a particular concern.
air-hardened adj. chiefly Metallurgy (esp. of steel) allowed to harden in air; subjected to an air-hardening process.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > metal in specific state or form > [adjective] > tempered or hardened
nealed1576
tempered1663
annealed1684
work-hardened1846
attempered1852
air-hardened1877
strain-hardened1914
work-hardened1915
1877 Proc. Royal Soc. 26 133 (caption) Air-hardened wire.
1914 H. Brearley Case-hardening of Steel vi. 72 The surface of the air-hardened steel is less hard than that of water or oil quenched steel.
1995 Syracuse (N. Y.) Herald Jrnl. 13 Aug. (Stars Mag.) 14/5 You put the raw, air-hardened pieces in—carefully, because they're very fragile at that stage.
air-hardening adj. chiefly Metallurgy designating a substance which hardens on exposure to air, esp. steel which was cooled by a blast of air rather than by quenching during manufacture; relating to or characteristic of such a substance.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > types of metal generally > [adjective] > other types or qualities of metal
refinable1607
maiden1622
conflatory1650
calcinable1652
noble1666
deft1683
tensile1841
calcigenous1854
multiple-phase1891
slagless1899
air-hardening1901
non-ferrous1909
free-cutting1923
multiphase1946
semi-metallic1974
1901 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Sept. 162 The best grade of air-hardening steel on the market.
1961 M. G. Say Electr. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 10) iii. 14 Up to 15 per cent of cobalt the steels are air hardening and are capable of being machined, drilled and tapped.
1983 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 6 Nov. b1/2 Since he lacked a kiln, he opted for air-hardening Mexican clay.
2003 Cement & Concrete Res. 33 44/1 Gypsum cementation material has comparatively obvious air-hardening characteristic.
air heater n. a device for heating air, esp. as a means of heating or ventilating a room, building, etc.
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the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > for heating air
air heater1830
calorifier1881
1830 Reg. Arts & Jrnl. Patent Inventions 4 23 This air heater, though comparatively small..has the power of distributing very hot air.
a1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 49/1 Air-heater, a stove or furnace so arranged as to heat a current of passing air, for warmth or ventilating purposes.
1944 Gloss. Terms Gas Ind. (B.S.I.) 34 Air heater, an appliance designed to heat spaces by the forced circulation of large volumes of warmed air.
1991 Mod. Power Syst. Sept. 5/2 The degasifier..collects the condensate coming from the air heater.
air hockey n. originally North American a two-player game, played on a table equipped with a mechanism which blows air through many small holes in the table surface (thus creating a cushion of air which reduces friction), and in which each player tries to knock a plastic disc into a slot at the opponent's end.
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1973 Chicago Tribune 11 Feb. xi. 15 (advt.) There's a cocktail bar,..air hockey, ping pong and other games.
2005 Uncut June 54/3 Wonder challenges one of the singers to a game of air hockey on a table that sits in the studio's main recreation room.
air hog n. a person who flies an aircraft without consideration for others' convenience or safety; cf. road hog n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > recklessly operated aircraft
air hog1907
1907 Times 5 Aug. 18/2 It is very possible that we are at the beginning of a period of great activity in air locomotion, and..it may appear advisable to get a strong body of public opinion ready to crush the ‘air-hog’ as soon as he appears.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 9 Feb. 4/1 Pointing out how the flying-machine is likely to violate every international law and rudely trespass on every private right and privilege, characterising the intrepid navigators as air-hogs and human vultures.
2003 Times (Nexis) 11 Jan. 40 Are these ‘air-hogs’ (as they are sure to be dubbed) to be allowed to..glide over our chimney-pots, or skim close above our lawns and flower-beds?
air holder n. an airtight vessel or receiver.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > [noun] > airtight vessel
air holder1795
pan1821
1795 E. Darwin Let. 2 Apr. (1981) 283 If you [sc. James Watt] have any japan'd air-holders ready made I should be glad of one.
1807 H. Davy in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 97 12 I filled it with hydrogene gas from a convenient airholder.
1874 Times 3 Aug. 5/2 The day's trials were concluded by taking the small air-holder containing air at high pressure..and firing at it.
1908 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 199 373 The water entered at a rate of..0.2 litre [per hour] in the morning, when the pressure in the air holder of the force pump had fallen to 12 lbs. per square inch.
2004 Asia Pulse (Nexis) 6 Oct. Safety valve, provided with air holder (1 piece).
air-horn n. a powerful horn operated by compressed air.
ΚΠ
1876 Appleton's Jrnl. 25 Mar. 414/3 Several instruments—air-horns, steam-whistles, sirens and guns.
1985 New Yorker 21 Oct. 31/3 A crewman leaped to our bow and began honking away on an air horn to warn it off.
air hose n. a hose designed for the passage of air.
ΚΠ
1842 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 7 Dec. 296 The men stationed over the hulk's side, with the air-hose and life-line in their hands.
1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 1 Air hose, the connection between the tractor and the trailer that supplies air to the trailer's brakes.
1999 T. Winter House Arrest (HBO TV shooting script) 16 (stage direct.) in Sopranos 2nd Ser. (O.E.D. Archive) Fitting him with a breathing mask that covers his nose attached by air hose to a CPAP machine (an air pump).
air hostess n. a stewardess on board a passenger aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > crew of aircraft or spacecraft > aircraft cabin crew > members of
air steward1922
air hostess1931
steward1931
stewardess1931
airline stewardess1933
air stewardess1936
hostess1936
airline steward1937
flight attendant1947
hostie1960
1931 Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner 17 Jan. 2/2 Air Hostess... Making passengers feel at home is the duty of Wanda Wood, who is one of the new hostesses on transport planes flying between Newark and Washington.
1933 Weekly Scotsman 14 Oct. 1 An ‘air hostess’ (a woman employed to converse with passengers on long flights) was among the seven people killed.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Oct. 598/4 The unanimity with which air hostesses give as their reason for choosing this profession the desire to meet people and see distant places.
2002 Independent 26 Sept. 19/4 If women who work for airlines would rather be called flight attendants than air hostesses or trolley dollies, that..is something we now easily and calmly accept.
airhouse n. a temporary inflatable building.
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1956 U.S. Rubber Ann. Rep. 19 The ‘airhouse’, a new air-supported structure of Fiberthin fabric, gained national attention.
1985 Appl. Acoustics 18 419 The degree to which fan-generated noise needs to be controlled in an airhouse will depend upon the airhouse occupancy.
2000 Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News (Nexis) 28 Mar. 2 d After a few days of designing, measuring, cutting and taping, the air house was a reality.
air hunger n. Medicine a subjective feeling of a need to breathe more air, typically associated with raised levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, and most commonly reported in diabetic ketoacidosis; (also) increased rate and depth of breathing resulting from this, as a physical sign.
ΚΠ
1882 Lancet 7 Jan. 24/2 A central origin of the sensation of thirst is also rendered probable by the analogous sensation of want of breath—‘air-hunger’ as it has been termed—which may arise in the medulla, independently of any deficient supply of oxygen from disease of the respiratory organs.
1949 H. W. C. Vines Green's Man. Pathol. (ed. 17) xxxiii. 895 In the latter cases, vomiting, headache, air-hunger from acidosis, and a gradual lapse into a comatose state are the usual symptoms.
2001 New Scientist 20 Oct. 62/1 Carbon dioxide build-up (hypercapnia) tends to manifest as ‘air hunger’ before it reaches serious levels.
air intake n. an inlet or duct for air.
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the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > inlet for air
air intake1872
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > [noun] > air intake
intake1946
air intake1958
1872 Rep. Inspectors Coal Mines Pennsylvania 1871 182 The slope is used as an air intake, ventilates both dips..and returns to the furnace out-cast.
1908 Times 15 July 4/3 In this way neither the exposed valve mechanism, the jointed control rods, nor the air intakes receive any of the dust poured in by the fan.
1958 Times 19 June 6/3 He had been sucked into the air intake of a jet engine.
2006 SuperBike June 67/1 A central air intake between the headlights passes air directly through the headstock to the airbox.
air jacket n. † (a) a jacket having an airtight lining which, when inflated, supports the wearer in water; a life jacket (obsolete); (b) a jacket (jacket n. 9) in which air or gas is circulated to reduce loss of heat from an enclosed vessel.
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the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > wrapping > [noun] > encasing or sheathing > that which > air- or water-jacket
air jacket1764
water jacket1831
1764 Gen. Mag. Arts & Sci. Sept. 462/1 Two men and a woman..dressed in air jackets..were followed by two men with the marine collar and belt: they continued dancing in the eddy a considerable time.
1819 Times 2 July 4/1 (advt.) To..those going abroad, are recommended C. Kendall's Life-preserving Air Jackets... Repeated exhibitions..have afforded the most satisfactory proofs of the buoyancy of the machine.
1840 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 3 291/1 The water, passing from the reservoir, down the tube, forces a quantity of air from the air jackets, with the water, through the small cylinder.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 4 May 4/2 An engine having specially designed air-jackets.
1999 Science 19 Mar. 1939/3 A negative pressure air jacket surrounds the work area to further enhance operator protection.
2002 U.S. Patent 6,390,049 B1 4 The function of the atmosphere air jacket is to keep the high-pressure air-jacket at a desired temperature.
air-jacketed adj. having an air jacket (air jacket n. (b)).
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1884 U.S. Patent 308,986 3/1 I do not claim herein an air-jacketed converter.
1936 Techn. Rep. Aeronaut. Res. Comm. 1934–35 I. 19 A wind tunnel investigation has been made of an air-jacketed engine.
1994 Jrnl. Controlled Release 30 254/1 Air jacketed drive unit with motor for magnetic stirrer.
air jet n. a nozzle or tube from which a directed pressurized jet of air is emitted; such a jet of air; cf. water jet n.
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1842 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. (ed. 3) iv. 122 The extremity of the air jet is surrounded by the extremity of the tube supplying gas, the terminations of the two tubes being concentric.
1886 Science 4 June 496/2 A vibrating air-jet playing into free air gives rise to very feeble sounds.
1939 D. K. Tressler et al. Fruit & Veg. Juices xviii. 364 Ice pans are equipped with an air jet which agitates the water during freezing.
1999 Textile Month May 26/2 The machine can also be delivered with an optional heated stretching unit which can include an air-jet device.
air knife n. a jet of air used like a blunt blade esp. to wipe or dry a surface; a device incorporating such a jet.
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1930 C. H. Vogt U.S. Patent 1,786,372 3/2 As soon as the air knife has been pushed down along one side of the receptacle or pan, the operator..injects air under pressure between exterior surfaces of the scrapple loaf and the pan freeing the sides and bottom of the loaf from the pan.
1936 J. D. MacLaurin Brit. Patent 456,746 1/2 A plurality of fluid discharging devices,..hereinafter referred as ‘air knives’, may be positioned above the path of travel of the web, fluid under pressure being discharged from said air knives and being directed to the mobile liquid film or films upon the web surface.
1957 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 49 995/2 A number of applications in the paper, printing, and chemical industries involve the use of such an air jet, commonly called an air knife, to obtain a uniform thickness of liquid over the width and length of the base material.
1999 Printing World 7 June 32/6 (advt.) IR Dryer with hot and cold air knives.
air lane n. a path or course regularly used by aircraft.
ΚΠ
1911 R. M. Pierce Dict. Aviation 16 Air-lane, a lane or road thru the air.
1958 Listener 13 Feb. 269/1 Do not think..that the airlines fly as the crow flies... They fly along prescribed air lanes..they meander and zig-zag.
2002 New Scientist 13 July 13/1 In Free Flight, much of the navigational control is restored to the cockpit, leaving pilots free to abandon traditional air lanes and choose the most favourable route.
air-launched adj. (of a missile) launched from an aircraft in flight.
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1949 A. R. Weyl Guided Missiles 108 The most powerful air-launched missile of its kind.
1991 Independent 22 Feb. 3/1 Since the war began, more American troops are thought to have been killed by ‘friendly fire’ than by the Iraqis, most by air-launched missiles.
air-launching n. the technique of launching a missile, etc., from an aircraft in flight.
ΚΠ
1951 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. 10 217 The ‘Skyrocket’..adopted the technique of air-launching from a B.29.
2005 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 24 Oct. 56 Air launching has a history. In 1974 a partially-fueled Minuteman ICBM was dropped and ignited from a C-5 transport.
airleg n. Mining an air-operated support for a rock drill, used esp. when drilling horizontally; frequently attributive.
ΚΠ
1952 Canad. Mining Jrnl. Jan. 65 (heading) Air legs at Hallnor mines.
1990 North West Tel. (Port Hedland, Austral.) 11 July 39/2 Experienced and novice rock drillers will be invited to drill through concrete-filled pipe using a held-hand [sic] rock drill and airleg.
2006 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 17 June w6 Local miners..break through the final 30cm using an air-leg drill.
air letter n. a letter conveyed by air, esp. one written on a specially designed folding form.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > letters, etc., by method of dispatch or conveyance
post-letter1648
ship-letterc1675
by-letter1685
penny-post letter1686
way letter1710
by-night1766
cross-letter1789
twopenny1818
box letter1827
non-paid1829
balloon-letter1870
pigeongram1875
railway letter1891
pneumatogram1894
airmail1918
aerogram1919
airgram1919
air letter1920
pneumatique1924
pneu1926
snail mail1929
aerogramme1934
airgraph1941
1920 Flight 12 781/2 Threepenny air-letter postage between London and Amsterdam, with the prospect of a similar charge to Paris, is getting a little nearer sanity.
1951 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IV. 17/1 An air letter is written on a special form supplied by the Post Office. This is made of thin paper and impressed with a sixpenny stamp.
1972 P. White Let. 8 Oct. (1994) xi. 403 I think the secret lies in the spacing—in not squeezing it up on one of those air-letter forms.
2004 Stamp Mag. Aug. 59/1 Military personnel in ‘active’ areas, of which the Falkland Islands is one, are entitled to free mail, in addition to the famous ‘blueys’ (similar to an airletter).
† air-loop n. Obsolete an opening in a wall, perhaps to allow the passage of air; cf. loop n.2
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > types of window > [noun] > other types of window
loop1393
shot-windowc1405
gable window1428
batement light1445
church window1458
shot1513
casement1538
dream-hole1559
luket1564
draw window1567
loop-window1574
loophole1591
tower-windowc1593
thorough lights1600
squinch1602
turret window1603
slit1607
close-shuts1615
gutter window1620
street lighta1625
balcony-window1635
clere-story window1679
slip1730
air-loop1758
Venetian1766
Venetian window1775
sidelight1779
lancet window1781
French casement1804
double window1819
couplet1844
spire-light1846
lancet1848
tower-light1848
triplet1849
bar-window1857
pair-light1868
nook window1878
coupled windows1881
three-light1908–9
north-light1919
storm window1933
borrowed light1934
Thermopane1941
storms1952
1758 J. Smeaton in Philos. Trans. 1757 (Royal Soc.) 50 202 On the north and south side, are two narrow windows or air-loops.
air mark v. transitive to mark (a building or other feature) so as to be identifiable from the air; to provide (an identifying sign) in this way.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > navigation of course of aircraft > navigate aircraft [verb (transitive)] > mark so as to be visible from air
air mark1929
1929 Times 12 Mar. 12/2 Thousands of cities and towns throughout the States have been ‘air-marked’ by civic and trade associations. During last year one oil company alone painted names on 4,200 stations... These markings, together with a standardized system of indicating obstructions, such as high tension cables..have proved a very valuable aid to air pilotage.
1948 Shell Aviation News No. 122. 4/2 The Civil Aeronautics Administration is sponsoring a programme for air marking cities, towns and villages throughout the country.
2004 Alaska Jrnl. Commerce (Nexis) 11 Jan. They..help identify airports by air-marking names on runways and rooftops.
air marker n. a sign designed to be read from the air to aid the navigation of aircraft; (also) a person involved in setting up such signs.
ΚΠ
1948 Shell Aviation News No. 122. 4/2 An air marker is a sign on rooftop or ground, visible from the air, which enables a pilot to orient himself when lost.
1989 Airports (National Assoc. State Aviation Officials) (Nexis) 5 Dec. 573 Guidelines for the preparation of rooftop air markers.
2007 Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (Nexis) 5 Apr. f7 She worked as a barnstormer, performing at air shows, and as an air marker, marking air routes on the tops of barns.
air marking n. the setting up and maintenance of air markers; (also) an air marker.
ΚΠ
1931 Times 31 Aug. 15/3 In the U.S.A. there are some 12,000 air signs erected according to the specifications drawn up by an Air Marking Committee.
1981 Washington Post (Nexis) 19 Oct. b5 The Federal Aviation Administration, for which Earhart had helped work out an air marking program.
2005 U.S. Newswire (Nexis) 22 Feb. Numerous aviation and aerospace education projects, fear of flying clinics, aviation safety seminars, airport air markings and a wide variety of flying events.
air marshal n. (also with capital initials) (a) (the title of) a high rank of officer in the Royal Air Force, above air vice-marshal and below air chief marshal; also as a title preceding a surname; (b) (chiefly U.S. and Australian) = sky marshal n. at sky n.1 Compounds 3.
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the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > watching or keeping guard > [noun] > one who watches or keeps guard > guard on an aeroplane
air marshal1919
sky marshal1964
1919 Times 4 Aug. 12/6 New titles for the commissioned ranks of the Royal Air Force. These are..Marshal of the Air, Air Chief-Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Vice-Marshal.
1970 Oneonta (N.Y.) Star 12 Sept. Air marshalls..can be employed to literally ‘ride shotgun’ to protect passengers.
1995 Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 9/1 Air Member for Personal and Training Command..in the three-star rank of air marshal.
2003 R. J. Dilger Amer. Transportation Policy v. 142 The additional security measures imposed at the nation's airports in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, coupled with the introduction of armed air marshals aboard commercial airliners.
† airmast n. Obsolete rare a mast to which airships are moored.
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society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > mooring mast for airship
mooring mast1919
airmast1927
1927 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 10/6 The selection of a site on the south side of the St. Lawrence for the erection of an Imperial airmast.
air mattress n. = air bed n.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > types of bed > [noun] > air-bed
wind-bed1575
air bed1809
air mattress1834
rheocline1851
Li-Lo1936
1834 E. Spencer tr. H. L. H. von Pückler-Muskau Tutti Frutti II. 73 The most portable kind of bed, and which may be placed either on a sofa, or on the ground, is an air mattress [Ger. Luftmatraße].
1845 Times 31 Mar. 8/2 The ingenious and enterprising Mr. Anderson..and a friend, who, on separate air mattresses, were inspecting the river.
1919 Outing Mar. 332/1 (advt.) Air Mattresses are Sanitary, Vermin and Water Proof, never get hard or lumpy and when deflated make a compact light package.
1993 New Yorker 18 Oct. 96/1 I camped out on my red-and-blue air mattress in a nylon shed-tent.
air mechanic n. a person trained in the maintenance of (esp. military) aircraft (also occasionally as a ranking).
ΚΠ
1912 Times 13 Apr. 7/3 N.C.O.'s and air mechanics will be required as engine drivers, fitters,..riggers, &c...The term ‘air mechanic’ is applied to denote men of the Royal Flying Corps below the rank of petty officer or sergeant.
1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station i. 39 The term ‘air mechanic’ is in use, though no such naval rating really exists. By air mechanic is meant a man who has been through a course of training either at the Central Flying School or at Eastchurch.
1944 E. Partridge in 19th Cent. Apr. 182 An erk, now used for an A.C.2..meant an air mechanic.
2004 Hindu (Nexis) 23 Aug. The Naval headquarters in New Delhi said on Tuesday that efforts were still on to locate the sixth crewmember, Air Mechanic Biswanath Singh.
air-minded adj. [compare minded adj.2] interested in or enthusiastic for the use and development of aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > [adjective] > of or relating to air travel > interested in or enthusiastic for
air-minded1927
1927 Times 28 Feb. 9/4 Flying clubs..offer one of the most economical and direct ways of making the nation, in the words of Sir Samuel Hoare, ‘air-minded’.
1943 C. Headlam Diary 19 Mar. in S. Ball Parl. & Politics in Age Churchill & Attlee (1999) x. 361 He..did all in his power to promote the efficiency of the Air Service—but like almost every air-minded man could not understand the Army and Navy point of view.
2002 UFO Mag. Jan. 7/2 A populous and air-minded district like Farnborough.
air-mindedness n. interest in and enthusiasm for the use and development of aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > [noun] > science or art of powered flight > interest in or enthusiasm for
air-mindedness1927
1927 Glasgow Herald 2 Nov. 13 The expansion of aviation systems and the spread of a sense of ‘airmindedness’.
1994 Stamp Mag. Nov. 57/4 The Fresson Trust was set up in 1991 to encourage airmindedness among the young people of the highlands and islands of Scotland.
air mine n. a mine (mine n. 5) designed to be deployed from or against an aircraft.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > aircraft weapons or equipment > [noun] > air mine
air mine1914
1914 Sci. Amer. 15 Aug. 114/1 The aerial mine is inferior to the sea-mine not only in its vulnerability to currents, but also in its visibility...Against..these handicaps the air-mine can oppose only its cheapness and lightness.
1939 War Weekly 202/3 A German sketch visualising the use of air mines against aeroplanes. The sketch shows a swarm of hydrogen-filled balloons released during an air-raid. Each balloon has hanging from it a chain with a mine attached.
2003 Bradenton (Florida) Herald (Nexis) 2 June 8 b Our use of cluster bombs (a type of ‘air mine’) and depleted uranium (DU) continues to kill civilians long after the war is over.
air miss n. a narrowly avoided collision between airborne aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > [noun] > near miss in air of one aircraft by another
air miss1958
1958 Times 25 Oct. 4/3 An analysis of ‘air misses’ in Britain had shown that on a great number of occasions only one pilot had seen the other aircraft.
1962 UK ‘Air Pilot’ p. RAC 35 Whenever a pilot considers that his aircraft may have been endangered by the proximity of another aircraft during flight..he should make an airmiss report.
2007 Western Mail (Cardiff) (Nexis) 3 Jan. 37 The report focuses solely on the development of the London complex of airports, a move that, according to the report, will increase air misses.
† air-monger n. Obsolete a person who pursues shadows or illusions.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun] > one who daydreams
musardc1330
John-a-dreams1603
air-monger1628
castle-builder1711
daydreamer1750
castle-hunter1752
Alnaschar1800
reverist1824
stargazer1843
Johnny Head-in-the-Air?1851
pipe-dreamer1899
head-in-air1932
Walter Mitty1947
Mitty1953
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. xv. sig. K7v Thou Ayremonger: that with a madding thought, thus chaseth fleeting shadowes.
air motor n. Engineering a machine which uses the energy of compressed air to supply motive power to a device with moving parts.
ΚΠ
1861 Sci. Amer. 27 Apr. 257/1 The old treadmill has been superseded by the windmill, the waterwheel, the steam engine and the air motor.
1913 Times 3 Dec. 26/3 The shaft was connected to an air compressing arrangement, the compressed air being in turn used to drive an air motor attached to a small dynamo.
2004 B. Bunch & A. Hellemans Hist. Sci. & Technol. 398/4 Since its invention, the Brotherhood engine has been used as an air motor for torpedoes and as an air compressor.
air officer n. an officer in an air force; spec. any rank of officer in the Royal Air Force above that of group captain.
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1915 Times 19 Feb. 11/2 (headline) Honour for Australian air officer.
1920 Act 10 Geo. V c. 7 §11 (3) The expression ‘air officer’ means any officer above the rank of group captain.
1993 R. Murphy Smash & Grab x. 124/1 Christopher Glinski, a Polish air officer whose exploits during the war had won him the Polish Military Cross.
air o.p. n. R.A.F. slang an air observation post.
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1941 Times 24 June 2/5 There are three broad schools of thought about air observation. One favours the air O.P., a light machine operating over the battery and manned by an artillery officer.
1944 Times 5 Jan. 3/1 Some of the credit for the flexibility and accuracy with which our superior weight of guns is used must go to our ‘air o.p.’ (observation post) squadrons... I have seen the little ‘air o.p.’ circling over the enemy lines.
1998 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 12 Dec. 18 He served in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War, flying Austers in the Air O P Role both in India and Burma.
air pad n. a pad inflated with air.
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1849 Lancet 23 June 672/1 I have too much confidence in the good sense of the profession..to suppose that they will abandon a method at once simple, effectual, and rapid,..for the sake of air-pads.
1876 Trans. Clin. Soc. 9 23 An air-pad was applied to the tumour.
1971 Times 16 Sept. 21/3 The hovertrain, suspended on air pads on a concrete girder, is being developed by Tracked Hovercraft.
2001 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 359 2209 It is usual to adopt suspension by soft rubber or steel springs or support by air pad.
air park n. chiefly U.S. an airfield; spec. one used by private light aircraft and situated near a residential area.
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society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > airfield
satellite airfield1904
air park1908
field1910
airfield1919
flying field1927
satellite aerodrome1940
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air xi. 351 The Germans were..already raiding London and Paris when the advance fleets from the Asiatic air-parks..were reported.
1929 Daily Tel. 22 Apr. 2/5 Ten air parks..and sixty landing grounds will be provided.
1944 Amer. Speech 19 304 ‘Airparks’, the ATS said, would be small landing fields in or near communities for the use of private flyers.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 22 Nov. d6/5 This home sits on 2.5 acres in an airpark around the Cherry Ridge Airport, and like all homes in the airpark, comes with a deeded right to the runway.
air passage n. a passage through which air travels; spec. (a) (in the body) the nasal passages, bronchial tubes, etc.; (b) Botany any of the large intercellular spaces in the stems and leaves of certain plants (cf. air canal n.).
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the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > [noun] > respiratory passages
pipec1385
suspiralc1400
windpipe1530
spirator1657
air passage1771
respiratory tract1831
airway1856
the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > passage, duct, or tube for conducting air
ventiduct1686
air passage1771
air tube1877
air pipe1889
airline1893
1771 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 222 Filling the room with a thick, pungent, oleaginous smoke..would soon destroy them, by clogging the air passages.
1802 T. Beddoes Hygëia vii. 35 Any common disease, of which the air-passages are susceptible.
1835 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 345/1 The air-passages in birds.
1885 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 12 16 They [sc. star-shaped cells] serve as a mechanical contrivance to prevent the collapse of the wide air-passages.
1907 F. E. Clements Plant Physiol. & Ecol. 166 The development of air passages is great in amphibious and floating forms, but they are normally absent from submerged plants.
1932 C. H. Chatfield & C. F. Taylor Airplane & its Engine (ed. 2) viii. 234 The air passage between the super-charger and the engine.
2000 J. Mann Murder, Magic, & Med. (rev. ed.) ii. 17 The bronchioles (numerous fine air passages in the lungs) are dilated..to allow for more efficient uptake of oxygen.
airphone n. a radio-telephone used in the air, spec. one fitted in an aircraft for in-flight use.
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1909 N.Y. Times 9 Apr. 1/4 Air 'phones for balloons... An experiment will soon be made to determine the success of communicating by wireless telephone from a balloon to stations on land.
1999 EuroBusiness Sept. 16/4 He finally used an airphone in front of his seat to ring the Bank of England and ask for special security when the plane touched down.
air pillow n. = air cushion n.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > elasticity of air > body of air acting as buffer or support
air pillow1828
air cushion1853
cushion1891
1828 Reg. Arts & Jrnl. Patent Inventions 2 240 Mackintosh's elastic air pillow, rendered impervious by a solution of caoutchouc.
1919 Outing Mar. 334/2 We recommend the Comfort Sleeping Pocket, especially for motor or canoe trips... This..consists of an under and over covering, an air bed, and a felt covered air pillow.
2004 Wall St. Jrnl. 17 Feb. (Central ed.) a2/1 At Amazon.com Inc..., higher natural-gas prices have raised the price of air pillows used to buffer its products while in transit... The Internet retailer said it is considering using fewer air pillows or turning to more wraparound cardboard boxes.
air pistol n. †(a) a pistol in which the propelling power is the explosive force of inflammable gases (obsolete); (b) a pistol (esp. one used in sport and recreationally) operated by the force of compressed air.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > competitive shooting > [noun] > air-pistol
air pistol1780
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > air-gun
wind-gun1644
wind-musketa1660
air gun1685
wind-cane1723
air pistol1780
air rifle1801
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > pistol > types of
dag1587
key gun1607
pocket pistol1612
key pistol1663
holster-pistol1679
troop pistol1688
horse pistol1704
screw-barrel1744
saddle pistol1764
air pistol1780
Wogdon1786
belt pistol1833
dueller1835
Colt1838
tickler1844
Derringer1853
cocking pistol1858
belt size1866
bulldozer1880
saloon pistol1899
Luger1904
Police Positive1905
Steyr1920
Saturday-night pistol1929
muff pistol1938
PPK1946
Makarov1958
Saturday-night special1959
puffer1963
snub nose1979
snubby1981
1780 J. Ingenhousz in Philos. Trans. 1779 (Royal Soc.) 69 398 The compound of the two airs in the air pistol takes fire.
1855 Brit. Patent 2,422 1 This invention relates to certain improvements on the ordinary air pistols used as toys for children.
1872 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1870 II. 107/1 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (41st Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 89) IX Air-Pistol. Reuben Brooks, Jr., Rockport, Mass.
1936 H. Nicolson Let. 5 May (1966) 260 I do not quite like the idea of Ben being such an old cautious cissie as to refrain from shooting policemen with air-pistols.
1975 Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 922/1 For air pistol shooting, the aiming mark contains scoring rings for points valued 10 to 7, surrounded by six more rings with score values from 6 down to 1 point.
1999 R. A. Bayfield in T. White Britpulp! 99 After work I used to go out there and plink at beer cans with a wildly inaccurate air pistol.
air-pit n. Mining (now rare) a ventilating shaft in a mine.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > passage > ventilation passages or openings
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
horse-head1747
sollar1778
airway1800
wind-hole1802
bearing door1813
air course1814
downcast shaft1814
upcast shaft (or pit)1816
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
thirl1847
brattice1849
intake1849
run1849
trapdoor1849
skailing1850
return1851
wind-road1860
breakthrough1875
wind-way1875
breast1882
cross-heading1883
skail-door1883
U.C.1883
undercast1883
vent1886
furnace-drift1892
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > ventilator > passage, shaft, duct, or pipe > in a mine
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
airway1800
wind-hole1802
air course1814
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
air heading1841
thirl1847
run1849
wind-road1860
wind-way1875
1709 T. Robinson Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland & Cumberland v. 30 If the Miners should not open their Air-Pits and keep their Thurling-Ways clear.
1755 Act inclosing Kenilworth 12 Drains, Drifts, Soughs, Mines, Trenches, Air-pits, and other Pits.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 969 These air-pits do not in general exceed 7 feet in diameter.
a1980 R. Carruthers in Gloss. Mining Terms in Fife (1980) 1 Air-pit.
airplay n. the playing of (esp. popular) recorded music over the radio; cf. play n. 18b.
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society > communication > broadcasting > radio broadcasting > [noun] > types of
relay1925
airplay1964
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > [noun] > airplay
radio play1908
airplay1964
playtime1976
1964 News (Frederick, Maryland) 10 Mar. 13/1 Upbeat in airplay... On the radio level, AM and FM, there's also been somewhat of a resurgence in the programming of dance music.
1976 Sounds 11 Dec. 31/1 If this fine song doesn't get the airplay it deserves I shall be very cross indeed.
2004 Mod. Drummer June 77/2 Over thirteen million. That's pretty kick-ass for no radio airplay or MTV support.
air plot n. a plot of an aircraft's course made during its flight (see quot. 1951).
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > navigation of course of aircraft > [noun] > course > continuous plot of
air plot1942
1942 D. C. T. Bennett Compl. Air Navigator (ed. 4) v. 172 The Air Plot Method is similar in principle..but instead of flying on one constant course only, a number of courses may be followed.
1951 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 6 Air plot, a continuous plot of true heading steered and air distances flown.
1988 Guardian (Nexis) 5 July The Pentagon's..claim that the Airbus was three or four miles outside the established civilian air corridor..[was] corroborated by the Italian frigate that was also monitoring the air plot on Sunday.
air-poise n. now historical a device for weighing air.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air-pressure > instrument for weighing air
air-poise1757
1757 T. Birch Hist. Royal-Soc. III. 363 (T.) Small mutations of the air..insensible by the more common airpoises.
1980 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 35 35 The ‘air-poise’..was for measuring the specific gravity of the air and its variations.
air pollutant n. a substance whose presence in the air constitutes pollution; a pollutant of the air.
ΚΠ
1948 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 31 Dec. 1/ It also has started a movement for control of air pollutants through local ordinance calling for local inspection and regulation.
1992 P. W. Birnie & A. E. Boyle Internat. Law & Environment x. i. 391 One purpose of the convention's definition is to indicate that it is concerned with stratospheric ozone, and not with low-level ozone, which..is an air pollutant.
air pollution n. the presence in or introduction into the air of harmful or poisonous substances, esp. as a result of human activity.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > environmental pollution > [noun] > other types of pollution
acid rain1845
air pollution1874
fallout1946
rainout1954
radiation1958
thermal pollution1965
light pollution1969
radioactivity1969
noise pollution1970
wash-off1979
1874 Med. & Surg. Reporter 12 Sept. 207/1 The prevention of water pollution and of air pollution with the products of decomposing filth.
1955 Sci. Monthly July 20/1 The Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside, California, is currently investigating the effects of air pollution on plants.
1988 J. Elkington & J. Hailes Green Consumer Guide (1989) 115 As factories, power stations and other industrial sources of air pollution are cleared up, motor vehicles have emerged as one of the worst offenders.
air pore n. a pore or air-filled pocket in a surface or material; (Botany) a stoma in a leaf; a similar structure in the thallus or receptacle of certain liverworts.
ΚΠ
1813 Mem. Literary & Philos. Soc. Manch. 2nd Ser. 2 22 There must then be air pores with valves opening outwards to permit the escape, but bar the entrance of any gas.
1839 J. Lindley School Bot. ix. 151 Ætheogams, plants furnished with air vessels and stomates or air pores.
1939 C. J. Hylander World of Plant Life vii. 94 Most common of all is the coarser thallus of a Marchantia or a Conocephalum, with its strikingly different upper surface. This is divided into angular areas in the center of each of which occurs an air pore.
2005 Cement & Concrete Res. 35 796/2 The air pores in aerated concrete are usually 0.1 to 1 mm in diameter.
air position n. (a) Military the strategic aerial position held by an attacking or defending force (cf. position n. 3b); (b) Aeronautics the position that an aircraft would reach in a given time if flying in motionless air.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > tactical position
air position1917
society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > navigation of course of aircraft > [noun] > position
air position1917
1917 F. A. Collins Air Man vi. 140 The English had not chosen their battlefield, or rather air-position, and thus fought at a disadvantage.
1937 D. C. T. Bennett Compl. Air Navigator v. 154 The difference of the air position so obtained in relation to the ground position (i.e. the departure point) is the wind effect for the total time.
1961 Geogr. Rev. 51 212 This course represents the connected series of ground-speed-true-course vectors each perpendicular to its attendant air position curve.
2001 C. Chant Air War in Falklands 1982 v. 63 The British air position over the landing was hampered by the fact that the two British aircraft carriers had been pulled back.
air potato n. a type of yam, Dioscorea bulbifera, which forms edible potato-like bulbils in its leaf axils, and is sometimes cultivated for ornament or (esp. in West Africa) as a food crop, but in some areas is considered an invasive weed.
ΚΠ
1895 A. Gray & W. W. Bailey Field, Forest, & Garden Bot. (rev. ed.) 431 Air potato... Somewhat cult. in Gulf States for the large angular gray tubers.
1914 W. C. McCollom Vines 94 A species that is sometimes grown as a curiosity is the air potato.
1993 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 5 Nov. b6/5 Ever hear of an ‘Air Potato?’ There is such a thing..and it produces tubers on the foliage.
air power n. power of defensive and offensive action dependent upon a supply of aircraft, missiles, etc.; cf. sea power n. 2.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > power of aircraft or forces
air power1908
air1917
air punch1940
society > authority > power > [noun] > political or national power > based on supply of aircraft, etc.
air power1908
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air iii. §5 The immense aeronautic park that had been established..to give Germany..the air power and the Empire of the world.
1940 Economist 11 May 851/2 The superiority of air power over sea power.
1991 T. Dupuy How to defeat Saddam Hussein v. 62 The devastatingly demoralizing effect of airpower against unprotected ground forces.
air prop n. colloquial a propeller on an aircraft.
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1935 T. E. Lawrence Let. 5 Apr. (1938) 867 You can push an air-prop pitch up to great steepness, so long as the revs are not extravagant.
1996 Northern Echo (Nexis) 14 Dec. 5 He discovered a long lost air prop at a former airfield in Doncaster.
air propeller n. a propeller which moves air by turning in it, esp. one on an aircraft; cf. propeller n. 1c.
ΚΠ
1866 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 156 660 The varying resistance of an air-propeller, according to the amount of area for the escape of air.
1929 Times 29 Aug. 12/7 The air propeller [of the sea plane] starts to work after the water propeller has stopped.
2005 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 25 Sept. a20 The vessels, which marry a car or airplane engine to an air propeller enclosed in a large metal cage..are a practical way to navigate shallow lakes.
airquake n. [after earthquake n.] a tremor felt in the air, spec. a sonic boom; cf. earthquake n.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > convulsion > [noun] > earthquake
earthdinOE
earthquakinga1325
earthgrinec1325
earthquakea1350
earthquavea1382
earth movingc1384
earth shakinga1387
terremote1390
tremor1635
airquake1746
earth shock1816
temblor1876
quake1881
seism1883
macroseism1903
tremblor1913
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [noun] > bursting violently from rest or restraint > exploding > an explosion (of fire, gunpowder, etc.)
displosion1656
explosion1681
bursta1719
exploding1770
blow-up1807
airquake1891
cook-off1947
1746 G. Berkeley in A. C. Fraser Life (1871) viii. 318 We are not to think the late shocks merely an air-quake (as they call it).
1752 Philos. Trans. 1749–50 (Royal Soc.) 46 700 A certain ingenious gentleman would not allow the last shock of an Earthquake in London to be an Earthquake..but rather calls it an Airquake, because it was lateral.
1891 Daily News 13 Oct. 5/4 General Dyrenforth's experiments in rain-making by means of explosions, or what he calls ‘terrific airquakes’, have not convinced his scientific opponent.
1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 28 Till all night's spark-sprayed dome is stunned with quick air-quakes of gold.
1992 Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Dec. b2 Scientists have referred to the phenomena as ‘airquakes’, and even described the speed and size of aircraft that might cause them.
air quality n. the quality of the ambient air; spec. the degree to which it is free of pollutants, as assessed using recognized indicators.
ΚΠ
1911 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 37 207 That air quality has a definite relation to comfort and health is never denied.
1959 San Francisco Chron. 5 Dec. 1/3 A law based on the air-quality standards adopted yesterday would demand that 80 per cent of the hydrocarbons be removed from motor vehicle exhausts.
1995 Amer. Health May 35/1 Can you blame your constant sneezing, congestion or other chronic cold symptoms on your job? Perhaps, if you work in a building with poor air quality.
2001 S. Roaf et al. Ecohouse (2002) iv. 85 Their influence on microclimate, air quality, physical health and psychological state is also very different.
air quote n. originally U.S. (usually in plural) a pair of quotation marks gestured by a speaker's fingers in the air, esp. to indicate that what is being said is ironic, mocking, or disingenuous, or is not a turn of phrase the speaker would typically employ.
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society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > hand gesture > [noun] > finger gesture > other finger gestures
fillip1530
devil horn1854
devil's horns1905
victory sign1942
bird1966
air quote1989
1927 Science 8 July 38/2 Some years ago I knew a very intelligent young woman who used to inform us that her ‘bright sayings’..were not original, by raising both hands above her head with the first and second fingers pointing upward. Her fingers were her ‘quotation marks’ and were very easily understood.]
1989 Spy Mar. 94/1 When Bob and Betty describe themselves in these ways, they raise the middle and forefingers of both hands, momentarily forming twitching bunny ears—air quotes, the quintessential contemporary gesture that says We're not serious.
1994 Guardian 10 Oct. ii. 11/3 This hugely successful new publication mixes beer, birds and bad language into a nauseatingly laddish concoction which Young insists is just for laughs. ‘It's like the Sun with air quotes around it.’
1998 J. Haiman Talk is Cheap iii. 52 The ubiquity in North America of the mimed or ‘air quote’.
2001 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 17 June ‘I worked up a telecommuting package so I won't be fishing that much less. I get to work from home on Fridays,’ said Fitzpatrick, making air quotes around ‘from home’ with his fingers.
air rage n. [compare rage n., road rage n.] extreme anger or frustration felt during a flight; spec. aggressive or violent behaviour by a passenger on board an aircraft.
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1996 Independent 22 May 17/1 ‘Do airline pilots get..air rage?’ ‘Yes. Especially when denied landing rights, or a take-off slot, or when another aeroplane nearly hits them in mid-air.’
1997 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) 23 Nov. a3 Authorities are getting tough on a problem some have dubbed ‘air rage’: increasingly belligerent, often drunk passengers who endanger jetliners by assaulting flight crews and fellow fliers.
2002 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 6 July Any terrorist incident or even air rage incident is more likely to involve people sitting next to the aisle.
air rank n. the rank attained by air officers.
ΚΠ
1923 Times 24 Jan. 10/5 (headline) Air rank for G.O.C. Palestine.
1985 Times 10 Dec. 12/5 The following air rank appointments in the Royal Air Force are announced.
2006 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 31 Oct. Before several RAF officers of air rank, the Sovereign's Colour was paraded.
air receiver n. a container for holding air, esp. compressed air; cf. air reservoir n. and receiver n.1 4b, 4c.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > vessels for other specific purposes > [noun] > for storage of compressed air
air receiver1784
1784 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 74 340 When it had ceased to give nitrous air, the neck of the retort became hot... The air receiver was taken away, and a common receiver was luted on.
1800 Minutes Meetings Iron Masters York & Derby 17 Much will depend upon the manner in which this air is thrown into the furnace. Some do this by means of small air receivers working alternately into an air chest.
1850 Sci. Amer. 21 Sept. 268/4 Mr. Paine..has discovered a process of catalyzing the oxygen of the atmosphere..without the cost of machinery or any other apparatus than an air receiver, capable of holding common air.
1919 L. H. Morrison Oil Engines xii. 206 The typical air receiver or bottle is made of steel with all joints welded.
2000 G. F. Douglas-Sherwood Gloss. Lighthouse Service Terminol. (Assoc.Lighthouse Keepers) Air receiver, a steel tank used to store compressed air for the operation of a fog signal.
air release n. Photography = pneumatic release n. at pneumatic adj. and n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1980 N.Y. Times 14 Sept. ii. 43/5 The feeder makes it possible to shoot 50mm environmental portraits [of small birds],..if you use two simple accessories: a tripod and a remote air release.
1991 Photo Answers Mar. 15/4 Focus as carefully as possible on where your face will be. Fit a long air release and keep it out of shot but handy enough so you can trip it with a hand or foot.
air reservoir n. [compare French réservoir d'air (1801 or earlier)] a container for holding air; cf. air receiver n.
ΚΠ
1806 tr. J. Mongolfier in Jrnl. Nat. Philos. June 107 The tunnel..ought to be capable of sustaining at least twice the pressure of the column of water ascending from the air reservoir.
1887 Times 25 Jan. 4/4 The torpedo, with its ‘business end’ duly filled with gun cotton and its air reservoir charged with compressed air, is placed in the tube.
1911 Science 6 Jan. 23 The water will pass through a bronze motor-driven compressor into an air reservoir where aeration will take place.
1997 R. Maconie Sci. of Music xiv. 169 Instruments of the bagpipe family employ a bladder as an air reservoir independent of the lungs and enabling indefinite sustain.
air resistance n. the resistance of air to a moving body; cf. wind resistance n. at wind n.1 Compounds 1a(a).
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the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air-pressure > air-resistance
air resistance1827
windage1897
1827 N. Arnott Elements Physics I. i. 55 Air resistance, to motions going on in air, is of the very same nature as water resistance, to motions going on under water, only less in degree.
1908 Aeronautics Mar. p. xviii Trials of a cellular aeroplane..have demonstrated that weight is a less important factor than air-resistance.
1936 Discovery Feb. 40/1 To diminish air-resistance by the streamlining of both engine and train.
2003 Amer. Math. Monthly 110 954 A typical plot of the trajectory..shows how air resistance breaks the beautiful symmetry of Galileo's model.
air ride n. a system of vehicle suspension achieved by means of air bags; usually attributive.
ΚΠ
1969 Science 21 Nov. 971/1 Trucks with air-ride-suspension construction cause less damage than trucks with leaf-spring suspension.
1989 Freight Guide Feb. 11/2 The airline has insisted on having only trucks with air-ride suspension.
2001 High Plains Jrnl. 16 Apr. c3/2 (advt.) 1983 KW Coe, 400, 13 Speed, Jake, air-ride, AC, recent overhaul, nice older truck.
air rifle n. a rifle operated by the force of compressed air.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > air-gun
wind-gun1644
wind-musketa1660
air gun1685
wind-cane1723
air pistol1780
air rifle1801
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > rifle > types of
three-o(h)-three1683
air rifle1801
yager1817
big bore1838
seventy-five1840
telescopic rifle1850
Minié rifle1851
needle rifle1856
pea rifle1856
Lancaster1857
six-shooting1858
Whitworth1858
Henry1861
polygroove1863
telescopic-sighted rifle1863
spencer1866
magazine rifle1867
Snider rifle1868
chassepot1869
Martini–Henry rifle1869
Winchester1871
Mauser rifle1872
Martini1876
saloon rifle1881
express1884
express rifle1884
Mannlicher1884
Mauser1887
Lee-Enfield1888
Flobert1890
pump gun1890
take-down1895
two-two1895
Ross rifle1901
hammer-rifle1907
sporter1907
French 751914
twenty-two1925
machine-gun rifle1941
assault rifle1950
assault weapon1968
kalashnikov1970
assault rifle1975
1801 Times 29 Oct. 3/3 Colonel Thornton has introduced among the Northern Sportsmen a new mode of shooting game and deer with air rifles.
1902 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 112. 298/2 Quackenbush Improved Nickel Plated Air Rifle..$4.35.
1958 Daily Tel. 30 June 15/8 A girl was injured by an air rifle.
2000 I. Pattison Stranger here Myself (2001) ii. 70 After Father's death nothing would bring me greater pleasure than leaning out of the window to take pot shots with an air rifle at sanctimonious old gits.
air rights n. (a) originally and chiefly U.S. the right to build or develop above an existing property; (b) the right to fly in the airspace over a particular area.
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1903 Lima (Ohio) Times Democrat 6 Aug. 8/6 The air rights of valuable railroad property in the congested centers of large cities can be used for buildings.
1917 Times 22 June 3/1 National air rights presumably existed over the land of any nation.
1994 Time 9 May 42/2 The p.l.o. accepted a three-mile limitation on territorial waters off the Gaza Strip and gave Israel air rights over the self-rule zones.
2003 S. Brown Free Gift Inside! 76 The owner of Tiffany..sold him the air rights over his Fifth Avenue flagship.
air road n. (a) Mining a ventilation passage for a mine; = airway n. 1a (now rare); (b) a route taken through the air.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > passage > ventilation passages or openings
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
horse-head1747
sollar1778
airway1800
wind-hole1802
bearing door1813
air course1814
downcast shaft1814
upcast shaft (or pit)1816
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
thirl1847
brattice1849
intake1849
run1849
trapdoor1849
skailing1850
return1851
wind-road1860
breakthrough1875
wind-way1875
breast1882
cross-heading1883
skail-door1883
U.C.1883
undercast1883
vent1886
furnace-drift1892
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > ventilator > passage, shaft, duct, or pipe > in a mine
througher1645
thirling1686
air-pit1709
airway1800
wind-hole1802
air course1814
buze1823
air road1832
raggling1839
air heading1841
thirl1847
run1849
wind-road1860
wind-way1875
1832 Mechanics' Mag. 21 July 264/2 There will then be a regular ventilating current round the work, all gases being driven, or escaping through fissures into the air-road.
1866 Morning Star 18 Dec. 6/2 We went down the air road, thinking that we might be able to get to the shaft that way.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 30 Aug. 2/3 Already we hear of rules of the air-road.
1926 R. Kipling Debits & Credits 359 He Who bids the wild-swans' host still maintain their flight on Air-roads over islands lost.
1996 Q. Jia in T. S. Golosinski & Y. Guo Mining Sci. & Technol. 194 A basis should be provided to decide the close order of every air road which meets the fire area.
air root n. †(a) a motile projection (perhaps a cilium) on certain bryozoans (obsolete. rare); (b) [after German Luftwurzel (1808 or earlier, originally and chiefly in plural Luftwurzeln)] an aerial root, esp. one emerging from the stem of a climbing plant or epiphyte which typically serves as a point of attachment to a support rather than as an organ of nutrient absorption.
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the world > plants > by nutrition or respiration > [noun] > epiphyte > root
air root1826
velamen1882
1826 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 1 223 They are probably continuations of the inner substance, like those projecting from the Cellaria cereoides, upper roots (luftwurzeln, air-roots).
1853 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 23 276 The long branching air roots of that tree (Rhizophora mangle) are entirely incrusted with calcareous matter.
1905 C. L. Goodrich First Bk. Farming (1909) xiv. 122 The trumpet creeper and English ivy climb by means of air roots.
1992 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 79 524/2 These basal structures resembled the so-called air roots that are often reported to form along the underside of the large lateral branches of old cultivated Ginkgos.
air route n. a route regularly used by aircraft.
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1910 Times 16 Sept. 6/4 The Ligue Nationale Aérienne..have..asked the Colonial Minister to authorize a study of the best ‘air routes’ across the colonies.
1991 Impact of Sci. on Society No. 162. 200 The rights to the most profitable air routes are traded at an inter-governmental level.
air sac n. Zoology and Anatomy a specialized air-filled cavity in the body of an animal; esp. an alveolus in the lung; cf. air cell n. 1a.
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the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > depression or cavity
pita1275
holec1300
cella1398
den1398
follicle?a1425
purse?a1425
pocketa1450
fossac1475
cystis1543
trench1565
conceptory1576
vesike1577
vesicle1578
vault1594
socket1601
bladderet1615
cistern1615
cavern1626
ventricle1641
bladder1661
antrum1684
conceptaculum1691
capsule1693
cellule1694
loculus1694
sinus1704
vesicula1705
vesica1706
fosse1710
pouch1712
cyst1721
air chamber1725
fossula1733
alveole1739
sac1741
sacculus1749
locule1751
compartment1772
air cell1774
fossule1803
umbilicus1811
conceptacle1819
cœlia1820
utricle1822
air sac1835
saccule1836
ampulla1845
vacuole1853
scrobicule1880
faveolus1882
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > internal organs and systems > [noun] > lung or gill > air-sac
air cell1774
airbag1782
air sac1835
1835 J. Coldstream in Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 37/2 The air-sac [of the Physalus].
1910 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 11 83 Birds have lungs, but in addition they have air-sacs permeating different portions of the body.
1984 Ecology 65 214 These insects..remain motionless in the water (buoyed up by two pairs of air sacs).
2002 Here's Health Mar. 20/1 The bronchi divide into thousands of smaller airways called bronchioles, which lead to the alveoli—300 million tiny air sacs that occupy the lungs.
air-sailing n. now rare the action or practice of travelling in an aircraft, esp. a hot-air balloon or airship; chiefly attributive.
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1854 Brit. Q. Rev. 1 Jan. 63 Roger Bacon..argued that..we might..‘sail upon the bosom of the air’... In whatever way we understand Friar Bacon's scheme of air-sailing, it was a prophetic and sagatious thought.
1897 Aeronaut. Ann. 92 The..care needed in making changes in an air-sailing machine.
1922 Times 28 Sept. 11/5 The gliding or air-sailing trials that have been carried out in Germany recently have shown it is feasible to construct aeroplanes with very light loading per square foot of surface.
1960 Göteborgs Universitets Årsskrift 66 249 Lilienthal writes..of the extreme care needed in making changes in an air-sailing machine.
air sailor n. (also air sailer) now rare (a) a balloonist; an aeronaut; (b) a hot-air balloon, an airship.
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > balloonist
ballooner1783
aeronaut1784
airgonaut1784
balloonist1784
aerostat1788
air-balloonist1791
voyager1826
air sailor1834
balloon driver1838
balloonatic1854
hot-air balloonist1887
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > balloons and airships > [noun] > airship
ship1679
airship1817
air sailor1834
navigable1882
dirigible1885
Zeppelin1896
aeronat1903
steerable1908
Zepp1914
vessel1915
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. v, in Fraser's Mag. 9 306/1 The thunderstruck Air-sailor is not wanting to himself in this dread hour.
1897 Aeronaut. Ann. 3 2 The development of the motorless air-sailer.
1897 Aeronaut. Ann. 3 166 The air-sailer who..adds the thrust of a screw to the forces he is accustomed to deal with.
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air vii. §5 Then Bert..had his first experience of the work of an air-sailor.
1923 Daily Mail 17 Apr. 8 The engineless air-sailor.
1998 Sunday Mag. (Perth, Austral.) (Nexis) 15 Nov. The balloon's..safe return to earth [is] celebrated in vintage French fashion with champagne breakfast and a certificate to the exclusive club of air sailors.
airscape n. a view or photograph taken from the air; (also) the view from an aircraft; cf. scape n.3
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > [noun] > view or scenery > from above
under-prospecta1586
despect1663
bird's eye view1755
lookdown1795
top view1895
airscape1921
1921 Flight 13 193 (caption) Winter in Switzerland: An airscape of the popular resort, Davos.
2002 Wired July 103/2 Quantum3D sees the day when commercial jets will have screens that render airscape in real time to help pilots fly, and land, in zero visibility.
air scoop n. Engineering a projecting structure on the front of a motor vehicle or aeroplane that serves to collect and channel impinging air for ventilation or cooling or to improve combustion.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > balloons and airships > [noun] > scoop for diverting wind
air scoop1919
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > other parts of body of vessel > [noun] > opening in side of vessel > for light air > scoop on
windsail1741
ventilator1846
air scoop1919
1919 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (Royal Aeronaut. Soc.) 55 Air Scoop, a projecting cowl, which, by using the dynamic pressure of the relative wind or slip stream, serves to maintain air pressure in the interior of the envelope.
1945 Sci. Monthly Sept. 229/2 Air scoops to provide combustion and cooling air, which greatly reduce the drag of air intake openings as formerly used on airplanes.
1999 Jrnl. Mil. Hist. 63 745 The peculiar cowling air scoops seen on several operational aircraft.
air scout n. (a) a scout who conducts reconnaissance from an aircraft; (b) an aircraft used for reconnaissance; = scout n.4 5b.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > used in warfare > scout or reconnaissance aircraft
scout1909
air scout1910
spotter plane1923
spotter1931
spotter aircraft1932
shufti-kite1944
1910 Times 10 Sept. 5/5 The most interesting result of the German army manœuvres up to the present has been the total failure of the air scout service... The crew of the air scout, reconnoitring in cloudy weather.., were completely deceived.
1911 R. M. Pierce Dict. Aviation 19 Air-scout, a scout who operates in the air; an aerial observer.
1927 Times 8 Feb. 13/2 An air scout reported fires in the city.
2003 Washington Post (Nexis) 2 Apr. a24 Today's air scouts fly supersonic jets that can drop their own bombs and use their own lasers to direct the trajectory of bombs released by other planes.
2007 What Papers Say (Russia) (Nexis) 13 Apr. The multifunctional Sukhoi should work as an interceptor and air scout, bomber and attack airplane.
air-scouting n. aerial reconnaissance.
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1912 Times 6 Jan. 3/5 During many days in December..no air scouting was practicable, and this provides a useful reminder of the limitations of the new art.
1982 Xinhua Gen. News Service (Nexis) 21 Oct. The frigate..is equipped with an antisubmarine system and an air scouting system.
2001 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union (Nexis) 8 May Pchela-1IK is a component part of the Stroy-P unmanned tactical air scouting system, the spokesman told the Military News Agency.
airscrew n. †(a) (in the terminology of R. Hooke) (probably) a prototype flying machine (obsolete rare); †(b) a screw designed to allow the passage of air through it (obsolete rare); (c) a propeller for producing pull or thrust by rotating in the air, esp. one on the nose of an aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > means of propulsion > [noun] > aircraft engine > propeller
airscrew1675
air wheel1832
propeller1842
aeroscrew1902
prop1914
stick1917
1675 R. Hooke Diary 23 Dec. (1935) 203 Mr. Lodowick discoursd about Language. Mr. Wild about flying. I told him of air screw.
1844 U.S. Patent 3537 1/1 The air-screw (D,) is fitted into the hole or canal..leading from the outside of the stuffing box into its substance... The side of the air-screw (D,) is cut out to permit the air freely to pass.
1859 Sci. Amer. 9 Apr. 252/1 I also claim arranging the air screw propeller..at an inclination upward from the keel.
1894 Proc. Internat. Conf. Aerial Navigation Chicago 265 For aeroplanes driven by screw propellers..there must always be two air screws..rotating in opposite directions.
1998 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95 5450/1 Such hovercraft, propelled by airscrews, have no drag forces associated with the water.
† air-scuttle n. Obsolete = air port n.1
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > other parts of body of vessel > [noun] > opening in side of vessel > for light air
air-scuttle1748
air port1784
porthole1792
port1910
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. iv. 36 The Commodore ordered six air scuttles to be cut in each ship.
1762 J. Lind Ess. Health Seamen (ed. 2) ii. 100 When the Weather will not permit the Air-Scuttles to be kept open.
1827 Times 17 Apr. 2/3 Came in the Sapphire, 28, Captain H. Dundas, from the experimental squadron, in consequence of the metal lids to her air scuttles being leaky.
air seal n. †(a) a seal incorporating air (obsolete. rare); (b) a device or natural barrier which prevents air from entering or escaping from a container or space.
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1853 Sci. Amer. 10 Sept. 412/4 One improvement consists in forming an air seal or packing, to separate the water above from the water below the piston.
1909 Times 25 Aug. 17/4 At the end of three hours..the can is removed and allowed to cool on a sand floor, making an air seal.
1931 Science 16 Jan. 66/2 No frictional erosion could have taken place without breaking the air-seal and allowing penetration of oxygen.
1998 A. Brookes Cladding of Buildings (ed. 3) 28 Air seals can be in the form of flexible membranes, gaskets, compressible foam strips and sealants.
air-seal v. transitive to seal (a container or space) in such a way that air cannot enter or escape.
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1884 S. S. Hellyer Plumber & Sanitary Houses (ed. 3) viii. 133 When..the traps or branches are not ventilated, and the pipe is air-sealed at its foot, where is the air in the pipe..to go to, but out of the lowest closet-trap?
1931 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 27 Apr. 7/4 (advt.) Factory-fresh Camels are air-sealed in the new Sanitary Package which keeps the dust and germs out.
2007 Intermetallics 15 444/1 The container was air sealed with paraffin films to prevent the entry of atmospheric air that might lead to the oxidation of alloy material.
air-sea rescue n. the rescue of a person from the sea using aircraft (originally and chiefly attributive); also a unit or branch of an air force which carries out such rescues.
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the world > action or operation > safety > rescue or deliverance > [adjective] > that rescues or delivers > from drowning > specific
air-sea rescue1941
1941 Flight 39 361/1 The various rescue services..have been co-ordinated under one central control known as the Directorate of Air/Sea Rescue Services.
1942 Aeroplane 13 Nov. 562/3 A Supermarine Walrus of the Air-Sea Rescue Service alighted on the sea in the middle of a German minefield.
1958 Times 10 July 15/2 The manufacture..of..inflatable liferafts and other air-sea rescue aids.
1991 D. Purcell Place of Stones (1992) i. 44 The co-pilot was still calling on the radio, moving his frequencies. Miraculously there was an answer at last from Shannon air-sea rescue.
2000 TVQuick 13 May 24/1 The empty plots..were interrupted only by some overly dramatic air-sea rescue.
air-season v. transitive and intransitive to season (timber) by air-drying.
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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > constructing or working with wood > work with wood [verb (intransitive)] > season or preserve
air-season1917
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > constructing or working with wood > build or construct with wood [verb (transitive)] > season or preserve
beek1483
beath1496
season1545
sap1725
kyanize1843
creosote1846
Paynize1850
Burnettize1867
Powellize1913
air-season1917
pressure-treat1922
recondition1931
seal1940
1917 J. B. Wagner Seasoning of Wood x. 151 The wood is allowed to air-season for several months to a year.
1935 Times 28 Oct. 20/7 A number of bats manufactured from the willow which was collected in 1933 and air-seasoned at the laboratory have been tested..by professional cricketers.
1997 J. J. Stalnaker & E. C. Harris Struct. Design in Wood (ed. 2) 361/1 Wood that has been properly dried or air seasoned will not decay provided its moisture content is kept below the fiber saturation point.
air-seasoned adj. (of timber) seasoned by air-drying.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > [adjective] > seasoned
seasonable1531
seasoned1545
in season1627
air-seasoned1919
1919 H. S. Betts Timber v. 150 A kiln is used also when partially air-seasoned or even fully air-seasoned material is to be dried further.
1978 Musical Times 119 279/1 (advt.) One-key flutes in air-seasoned hardwoods (as used by early makers).
1992 E. Monk How to build Wooden Boats ii. 3 Air-seasoned lumber is in every way superior to kiln-dried.
air-seasoning n. the action of seasoning timber by air-drying.
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1917 J. B. Wagner Seasoning of Wood x. 154 The present methods of air-seasoning in use have been determined by long experience.
1930 Forestry 4 36 In air-seasoning both the temperature and humidity of the available air are dependent on local climatic conditions.
1991 Jrnl. Egyptian Archaeol. 77 61 Contrary to what is suggested by Goedicke.., air seasoning does not require a dry climate.
air seeder n. an agricultural machine towed by a tractor, which uses compressed air to propel seeds in order to sow a large area.
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1982 Globe & Mail 14 June b8/6 An air seeder, with air being used as a medium to distribute seeds, which is said to be more transportable than conventional seeders.
2001 Soybean Digest Apr. 34/1 We use an air seeder for soybeans, peas and wheat.
air sense n. capacity for intelligent handling of aircraft; cf. road sense n. at road n. Compounds 6.
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1919 Conquest Dec. 65/1 The successful execution of aerial acrobatics involves the possession..of that indefinable quality which, for want of a better word, we will call ‘air-sense’.
1999 Balloons & Airships Mar. 5/1 It just goes to prove that flying is fundamentally about air sense and, in retrospect, ballooning is as good a way to start as any.
air service n. (a) a branch of an army or naval force providing assistance using aircraft, spec. the precursor of a separate air force (historical); (b) the provision of aircraft on a particular route, usually on a regular basis.
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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun] > public service airline
airline1890
air service1911
airway1920
line1920
1911 Times 22 Mar. 12/1 (heading) The Army Air Service.
1914 Times 24 June 4/1 The Royal Naval Air Service..will form part of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy... A certain number [of officers] will..be selected to fill the higher posts in the Air Service.
1919 Sphere 1 Nov. p. x/3 Outside the R.A.F. there were no records of a daily air service to guide the Avro company in organising such an undertaking.
1967 Daily Tel. 17 Feb. 1/4 Plans are being made to cut BEA's Manchester-to-London air service..as a result of big passenger losses to British Railways ‘ton-up’ trains.
1992 Economist 30 May 30/1 The army has understandably never been keen to discuss the covert activities of its best trained forces in the province—notably men of the Special Air Service (SAS) regiment.
2006 Up Here (Yellowknife, N.W. Territories) Apr. 34/1 (advt.) The Air Tindi Family, over 160 dedicated people and 23 versatile aircraft on floats, wheels, skis and tundra tires serving the north with scheduled and charter air service.
air sextant n. now historical a kind of sextant for use in aircraft.
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1919 Trans. Optical Soc. 20 340 (title) The Baker air sextant.
1974 Technol. & Culture 15 118 What might have been the course of World War II if budget allocators of the 1930s had invested..in perfecting air sextants, driftmeters and radio navigation aids.
1987 N. Jones Beginnings Strategic Air Power iii. 62 Unfortunately the air sextant proved to be a difficult instrument to use, and the degree of skill required..was rarely attained by the average navigator.
air show n. an aviation exhibition featuring aerial displays and stunts.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > aerobatics > [noun] > air display
air pageant1785
air circus1907
air show1912
1912 Chicago Tribune 23 Aug. 5/2 It was to celebrate the arrival..of the Gordon Bennett cup defender monoplane..that the air show was conceived.
1927 N.Y. Times 24 Aug. 13/3 A wedding in the air is scheduled as a feature of the three-day national air show.
2002 List (Glasgow & Edinb. Events Guide) 4 July 108/2 The air show is set to include the exciting antics of Europe's only wing-walking team,..as well as the exceptional RAF Falcons parachute display team.
air shower n. Astronomy a shower of secondary cosmic rays or particles, formed in the atmosphere when primary cosmic rays collide with atomic nuclei.
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1938 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 167 504 The chance that an air shower will be recorded by the counting set is relatively small.
2003 Connecting Quarks with Cosmos (U.S. National Res. Council: Div. Engin. & Phys. Sci.) vi. 107/2 Profiles of individual air showers can be observed from a relatively compact array of telescopes that track the trajectory across the sky.
air shuttle n. originally U.S. = shuttle n.1 8b.
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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun] > type of service
pool service1906
taxi service1908
air shuttle1928
shuttle1942
interlining1970
1928 N.Y. Times 3 Sept. 15/1 (headline) Air shuttle brings Chicago overnight. Cleveland–Chicago planes will make rail connection and cut the time.
2006 Sunday Times (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 1 Oct. (Lifestyle section) 13 Madikwe Charter offers a daily air shuttle service from Joburg International to Madikwe Game Reserve.
air sign n. (a) a sign providing information, positioned above eye level; (b) Astrology any of the three zodiac signs associated with the element air (cf. sense 2a), Gemini, Libra or Aquarius; (also) a person born under one of these signs.
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1875 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Weekly Times 11 Nov. Keep your eye out for that air sign across South Commercial Street as that directs you to..the new Boston One Price Clothing House.
1892 Lucifer 15 June 286 Thus Aries which is a ‘fire’ sign, is polarized by Libra which is an ‘air’ sign.
1955 C. Oliver in Astounding Sci. Fiction Jan. 80/1 A violet government airsign hung in the rain, glowing gently just above his head: Don't Rock The Boat.
2002 S. Perera Do Right Thing 19 Shyam, being an air sign was a man more comfortable with ideas and theory than practicality.
air-slaked adj. Agriculture and Building (of lime) having been slaked by exposure to the air.
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1803 P. Lathbury in A. Hunter et al. Georgical Ess. (new ed.) III. xi. 236 When he dressed his wheat with it, it was air-slaked, but did not appear otherwise altered by keeping.
1886 Sci. Amer. 6 Nov. 291/3 It is important that the lime should be thoroughly air-slaked, for if any dry particles be left they will swell and eventually break the joint.
2005 Corrosion Sci. 47 1557 Air-slaked limes are mainly constituted of Ca(OH)2 (portlandite or calcium hydroxide) which hardens when it reacts with carbon dioxide.
air slaking n. Agriculture and Building the process by which lime slakes on exposure to the air.
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1838 J. G. Totten tr. J. C. Petot in tr. C. L. Treussart et al. Ess. Hydraul. & Common Mortars iii. xix. 194 At the same time it [sc. quicklime] splits and falls to powder; this being what is called spontaneous slaking, or air slaking.
1938 B. Isgur Introd. Soil Sci. xii. 134 When burnt lime is exposed to the air, it absorbs moisture from the surrounding atmosphere, a process called air slaking.
2002 Minerals Engin. 15 202/2 It is often observed that lime undergoes air-slaking and recarbonation after calcining, especially during periods of prolonged storage.
air source adj. designating a heat pump that extracts heat from colder air and releases it into a heating or hot water system, or into a warmer place (as in an air conditioning system).
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1948 Archit. Rec. Apr. 149/3 It is very likely that both types of units (air source and water source) will find their own best markets.
1954 Refrigeration Engin. July 80/3 What is said to be the largest packaged air source heat pump on the market is designed for larger homes and commercial buildings.
2021 Harrogate Advertiser (Nexis) 13 May They also said eco-friendly methods of heating, such as air source heat pumps and solar panels, should be installed instead of gas.
air-spaced adj. having component parts separated by air; (of an electrical device) having constituent elements spaced at intervals so that they are insulated from each other by air or the device has a lower capacitance.
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1925 Times 23 Jan. 9/5 (advt.) Crystal set with air-spaced coils.
1957 B. O. Scott Princ. & Pract. Diathermy v. 55 Short-wave diathermy with its higher frequency as compared to long-wave diathermy is more convenient..since it can be used with air-spaced electrodes.
2000 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 45 1169/1 A telescope consisting of a negative lens and an air-spaced achromatic doublet lens.
air sport n. an aerial activity such as ballooning, gliding, parachuting, etc., pursued for recreation.
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1905 Racine (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 7 Oct. 4/5 They have attempted to cross the Mediterranean sea in an airship. The young Monsieur Santos Dumont..has been leader in the ‘air sport’ and others have followed him.
1931 Sailplane 6 Nov. 97/1 (heading) ‘Gliding’ out of trouble. Debtor's new use for air sport.
1980 D. Cameron Ballooning Handbk. 7 Ballooning has one of the safest records of all air sports.
2002 Toronto Metro 30 Aug. 12/5 A whole list of sports—surfing, ballroom dancing,..and ‘airsports’, such as parachuting.
air spring n. †(a) elasticity of the air (obsolete); (b) Mechanics a damping device that uses compressed air, as in pneumatic suspension systems.
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the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > elasticity of air
air spring1660
spring1660
compressibilitya1691
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall i. 27 An account plausible enough of the Air-spring.
1826 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 116 225 The air spring soon resists sufficiently to close the air valve.
1901 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 18 200 The compressed air-springs on the doors of the polishing department.
1991 New Yorker 21 Oct. 71 (advt.) Should loading of the trunk or cabin alter Mark VII's balance, the computer will adjust the air springs accordingly.
air-sprung adj. containing or utilizing an air spring; pneumatic.
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1926 Glasgow Herald 31 Dec. 7/6 The company are also the manufacturers of Rapson and air-sprung tyres.
1972 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 25 June 6/4 The Blue Train rides on airsprung bogies.
1991 Bike Nashbar Catal. Early Spring 37/1 Oil dampened air-sprung technology to allow you to maintain momentum over obstacles that would normally stop a mountain bike cold.
air squadron n. = squadron n. 3b.The precise sense intended in quot. 1904 is unclear.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > air force > [noun] > unit
air squadron1904
squadron1912
flight1914
sqn1914
squadrilla1914
subflight1939
1904 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Evening Gaz. 3 Mar. 4 A good many of the ships so far sunk in this war seemed to have belonged to the air squadron.
1912 Washington Post 5 May 17/5 Britain is to have a royal flying corps..with seven air squadrons, consisting of twelve aeroplanes.
2001 Navy News Sept. 1/3 They will then said down the harbour where ships alongside will pay marks of respect and will have embarked personnel from their affiliated regiments and air squadrons.
air station n. an airfield operated by a navy or marine corps; (also) a place for the launching and landing of hot-air balloons or airships.
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1911 Aeronautics Apr. 13/2 Starting and Landing Stations..A cumbersome expression... ‘Air Stations’ have been suggested as alternatives.
1914 Whitaker's Almanack 774 Fort George (Cromarty Firth).—British Naval Air Station.
1956 T. Williams Let. 7 Sept. in Five O'Clock Angel (1991) 138 The plane trip was seventeen hours and it knocked me out so I could hardly walk from the plane to the air-station.
2003 National Geographic Dec. 31 (caption) Part helicopter, part airplane, the V-22 Osprey flies again at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, where it's being tested after a redesign.
air steward n. a person (esp. a man) employed to serve passengers on an aircraft; a flight attendant; cf. air stewardess n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > crew of aircraft or spacecraft > aircraft cabin crew > members of
air steward1922
air hostess1931
steward1931
stewardess1931
airline stewardess1933
air stewardess1936
hostess1936
airline steward1937
flight attendant1947
hostie1960
1922 Chicago Tribune 21 May g9 (caption) The next time you take the London–Paris airliner you will find air stewards aboard... The two small men shown in the picture are the first air stewards in the world.
1996 Eat Soup Dec. 34/1 The stress of a schedule involving eight flights..requires you to stock up on carbohydrates and in-flight booze just to stop yourself from hitting an air steward with your laptop.
air stewardess n. = air hostess n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > crew of aircraft or spacecraft > aircraft cabin crew > members of
air steward1922
air hostess1931
steward1931
stewardess1931
airline stewardess1933
air stewardess1936
hostess1936
airline steward1937
flight attendant1947
hostie1960
1936 Punch 9 Dec. 646/1 To Chloe, an ‘Air Stewardess’. My Chloe rides the heavens in a roaring silver hull, She serves up morning coffee over Basle and Istanbul.
1977 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 5 June 18/1 She said that the current name for an air stewardess is now flight attendant, a term which applies to both sexes.
1998 Independent on Sunday 13 Dec. i. 6/6 A month ago there was a huge wave of publicity about ‘air rage’ after a vicious bottle attack on an air stewardess by a drunken passenger.
air-stone n. †(a) a meteorite; cf. aerolite n.; (obsolete); (b) a porous block used to diffuse air in a fish pond, aquarium, etc.
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the world > the universe > constellation > comet or meteor > meteor > [noun] > meteorite > aerolite
air-stone1608
aerolite1810
aerolith1811
uranolite1815
brontolith1860
oligosiderite1883
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > a stone > [noun] > meteorite > other meteorites
air-stone1608
iron1802
aerolite1810
aerolith1811
uranolite1815
star-glint1825
brontolith1860
aerosiderite1863
aerosiderolite1863
pallasite1863
siderolite1863
siderite1866
mesosiderite1868
howardite1881
chondrite1883
oligosiderite1883
plessite1885
diogenite1895
achondrite1904
octahedrite1905
nakhlite1916
ureilite1916
stony-iron1918
micrometeorite1949
1608 Let. in T. Wright Dict. Obs. & Provincial Eng. (1857) I. 43/1 They talk of divers prodigies..but specially airstones.
1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia Aeroliths, air-stones: a name lately given to those solid bodies composed of several mineral substances, which have been seen to fall from the atmosphere.
1879 H. W. Warren Recreations in Astron. vi. 123 These are called aerolites or air-stones.
1942 Biol. Bull. 82 376 Air was bubbled continuously through porous ‘air-stones’.
2003 Pract. Fishkeeping Aug. 12/4 The oxygen content should be moderate to high... This can be provided through the use of filtration, airstones or diffusers.
air-stove n. now rare a stove which heats a stream of air passing between its surface and an outer casing.
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1786 Times 25 Mar. 2/1 (advt.) A description of the last improved Air Stove, Grates, for Warm or Cold fresh Air... These Grates shew a much handsomer Fire Place than any other Air Stove.
1822 Times 4 July 3/5 (advt.) Brussels and other carpets, register and other stoves; an air stove, with copper pipe and apparatus; kitchen requisites, [etc.].
1872 Times 10 Oct. 5/1 The fire broke out in the roof, which caught light from an air stove.
1990 S. Varey Space & Eighteenth-cent. Novel ii. 87 Merriman's ‘purifying air-stove’ had not yet been invented.
air strike n. an attack made using aircraft.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > air operation
mission1910
air raid1914
sortie1918
hickboo1919
air punch1940
air strike1942
trade1942
1942 Times 7 Nov. 4/2 During Thursday our main air strikes were directed against targets at Fuka and Bagush.
1962 Sat. Evening Post 8 Dec. 20/1 The hawks favored an air strike to eliminate the Cuban missile bases... The doves opposed the air strikes and favored a blockade.
2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 14 June i. 5/1 An Israeli airstrike on an Islamic Jihad rocket squad in a crowded Gaza neighborhood killed 11 Palestinians Tuesday.
air striking force n. a military force capable of carrying out air strikes.
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1932 Times 2 May 7/4 The Blue Commander-in-chief announced his intention of using..his air-striking force to attack the enemy aircraft carrier with bombs and torpedoes.
1991 Washington Times (Nexis) 22 Jan. g4 If Iraq has protected its main air striking force in the deep bunkers it has prepared and if U.S. air superiority is ground down..the Gulf could become ‘Exocet Alley’.
airstrip n. a strip of land prepared for the taking off and landing of aircraft, often for temporary use.
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society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > air-strip
landing area1910
airstrip1911
landing strip1930
strip1936
1911 Lethbridge (Alberta) Daily Herald 4 Oct. 4/2 The world is truly moving very fast. It is difficult to surmise to what uses the airstrip may eventually be put.
1942 Newsweek 7 Dec. 27/3 Then..further airstrips for landing the transport planes were built by the troops as they went along the jungle trails.
2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Weekend Suppl.) p. xviii/1 Our single-engine Cessna lay stranded at the airstrip because a hyena had..chewed through the exposed brake line.
air support n. assistance given to ground or naval forces in a military operation by their own or allied aircraft.
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society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > [noun] > supporting
support1749
fire support1896
air support1917
1917 Courier & Argus (Dundee) 12 Sept. 3/3 A mist hung over the ground all day..depriving the assaulting battalions of effective air support.
1933 Times 6 Feb. 11/1 The proposal that British naval and air support should be at the disposal of the League.
1975 New Yorker 21 Apr. 127/2 We fought the war for them and made them overdependent on air support.
2003 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Mar. a7/6 One possible scenario for the days to come would see U.S. troops spreading out to lead groups of peshmerga in assaults on Kirkuk and Mosul, and call in U.S. air support.
air suspension n. Mechanics a system of vehicle suspension using compressed air to damp vibrations.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > steering, suspension, or wheels > springs, etc., supporting chassis > types of
knee-action1868
air suspension1913
1911 L. Delpeuch U.S. Patent 1,009,287 1/1 This invention relates to an improved compressed air suspension applicable to vehicles of all kinds, including aeroplanes.]
1913 Times 23 Dec. 13/7 There is in existence at least one system of air suspension.
1960 Buses Illustr. June 197/1 Following the prototype air-suspension vehicles, four such models are now in production.
2005 Evo June 51/3 In town it's effortless,..air suspension digesting road surface roughage.
air taxi n. a light aircraft which may be hired by passengers for short flights.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [noun] > aircraft for goods or passengers
liner1905
tramp1905
airliner1908
taxi1909
taxi plane1909
air ferry1916
air freighter1919
passenger plane1919
air taxi1920
freighter1920
flying boxcar1932
ferry1939
shuttle plane1944
day coach1945
feeder liner1946
charter1959
night coach1959
1920 Flight 12 459/2 The chief concern of the many Americans who attended Mr. Handley Page's recent lectures on aviation in the United States appeared to be to discover when air taxis would be possible.
1963 Economist 14 Dec. 1125/3 Charter and air-taxi flights in the area.
2005 N.Y. Times 19 June 16/1 Envisioning..a new generation of microjets, with two engines and just five or six seats, as air taxis or charters.
air terminal n. the terminal point of an air route; (now more usually) a building equipped for the reception of air passengers or cargo.In early use sometimes: the town office of an airline, where passengers would check in before travelling to an airport. Now chiefly: a building handling multiple airlines, and situated at an airport.
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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun] > public service airline > airline office
air terminal1921
society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > airport > terminal point of an airline
air terminus1919
air terminal1921
1921 Aircraft Year Bk. 79 The principal communities which are situated along this air route should create thoroughly modern air terminals.
1935 C. G. Grey in N. Tangye Air is Our Concern i. 10 Though Hounslow Heath was actually the first London Air Terminal, it was given up because it was on the wrong side of London.
1956 Times 2 Feb. 5/1 A temporary air terminal will be erected on the platform to take those services now being handled at B.E.A.'s Waterloo air terminal.
1991 Sports Illustr. 18 Mar. 62/1 40 Indy Cars..were being loaded into a pair of 747s at the Federal Express air terminal in Los Angeles.
air terminus n. = air terminal n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > airport > terminal point of an airline
air terminus1919
air terminal1921
1919 Sphere 10 May 108/1 The air terminus for London is Hounslow.
1947 Times 12 Aug. 2/5 Kensington Air Terminus... Passengers..will..begin and end their journeys, not from Airways terminal, near Victoria Station.., but from Kensington High Street.
1980 P. Highsmith in Times 19 Apr. 6/8 The bus arrived at Tegel, which seemed a U-Bahn station rather than the air terminus.
air thermometer n. Physics (now chiefly historical) a thermometer which measures temperature by the expansion of a column of air.
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the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > measurement of temperature > [noun] > instrument > other specific instruments
air thermometer1701
water thermometer1725
gas thermometer1837
geothermometer1838
nepheloscope1844
thanatometer1860
resistance thermometer1861
reversing thermometer1878
telethermometer1880
thermocouple1890
thermo-electroscope1895
thermodynamometer1909
ebulliometer1933
1701 Philos. Trans. 1700–1 (Royal Soc.) 22 794 CD is the Air-Thermometer, graduated after the same manner, with the like Degrees.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. lii. 649 The thermometer first invented by Drebel was an air thermometer; but instruments of this kind..are properly called manometers, and require, for enabling us to employ them as thermometers, a comparison with the barometer.
1916 W. Kent Mech. Engineers' Pocket-bk. (ed. 9) 549 The mercurial thermometer made of common glass may be considered as sensibly coinciding with the air-thermometer at all temperatures not exceeding 500° F.
2002 Internat. Jrnl. Refrigeration 25 284/2 More than a hundred years later, in 1702, Guillaume Amontons improved the air thermometer and predicted for the first time the existence of an absolute zero.
† air thread n. Obsolete a slender thread of gossamer of the kind used by small spiders to float in the air; usually in plural.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider) > web > threads floating in air or spread on grass
gossamerc1325
kell?1523
spittle of the sun1568
air thread1753
summer goosea1800
flake1817
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Air-threads are not only found in autumn, but even in the depth of winter.
1774 P. Proctor et al. Mod. Dict. Arts & Sci. I. Air-threads, in natural history, long filaments, so frequently seen in autumn floating about in the air. These are the work of spiders.
1868 Catholic World June 414/2 The gossamer or air threads—a singular phenomenon.
air tool n. Engineering an engineering tool driven by compressed air, usually from an airline (airline n. 3).
ΚΠ
1908 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel 23 Dec. 10/4 A portable air tool used in putting stay bolts in boilers caught in the clothing of Boilermaker P. Denehy this morning.
1983 Buck & Hickman Catal. 1983–5 473/2 Particularly suitable for use with the smaller type of electric or air tool or other items used on production or assembly lines.
2001 Internat. Jrnl. Industr. Ergonomics 28 183/2 The simulated automobile assembly tasks consisted of carrying objects and screw driving with an air tool.
air traffic n. the movement of aircraft through the skies; aircraft in flight considered collectively.
ΚΠ
1905 Times 22 Nov. 13/5 (advt.) The petrol motor has revolutionized, and will revolutionize still more, the conditions of ‘travel’ by land and sea, and promises in the future to bring about an air traffic as well.
1962 Observer 11 Mar. 1/4 Metallic objects called ‘chaff’ were used by the Russians yesterday..in a new attempt to interfere with air traffic.
2002 P. Raines Simple Stonescaping (2003) xiv. 112/1 Water features are used residentially to please the eye and to mask unwanted sounds of road and air traffic.
air traffic control n. the regulation of the movement of aircraft, esp. into and out of an airport; those responsible for this considered collectively.
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1932 Times 19 May 14/1 A demonstration of air traffic control by wireless telephony was given.
1933 Flight 25 524/2 (heading) Air Traffic Control.
1951 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IV. 381/2 The advent of the fast, all-weather aircraft, and the demand for frequent and regular services, have made it essential to establish strict rules for air-traffic control.
2002 N. Walker Blackbox (2003) 245 Stacking over Heathrow, running out of fuel, thinking air traffic control had forgotten about him.
air traffic controller n. a person who is responsible for regulating the movement of aircraft, esp. into and out of an airport.
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society > travel > air or space travel > regulation and control of flying > [noun] > system using radio or radar > controller
air traffic controller1942
1942 Times 15 Sept. 6/6 While at Heston [airport] he became ‘air traffic controller’ under special powers granted by the Air Ministry.
1973 Times 20 Mar. 8/4 The statement also referred to the month-long strike by French air traffic controllers.
2005 P. R. Keefe Chatter i. 24 The air-traffic controllers at the Alice Springs airport report any suspicious flight movements, so there is little possibility of interception by overflight.
Air Training Corps n. a voluntary organization, affiliated to the Royal Air Force, for the promotion of aviation and training of young cadets; abbreviated A.T.C.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > air force > [noun] > branches of
air arm1913
W.R.A.F1918
Fleet Air Arm1923
Bomber Command1939
WAAF1939
Coastal Command1940
Air Training Corps1941
Fighter Command1941
WASP1943
1941 Times 10 Jan. 2/3 It is proposed to establish an Air Training Corps to provide pre-entry training for candidates for air crew and technical duties.
1993 Choir Schools Today Issue 7. 40/1 (advt.) Options include Greek, Latin, Textiles, Design & Technology, Rowing, Rugby, Squash, Tennis, Air Training Corps, D. of E. and sailing.
air transport n. transport by means of aircraft.
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society > travel > air or space travel > transport by air > [noun]
air transport1929
lift1942
1929 Lancet 12 Jan. 105/2 The facilities offered by air transport to patients travelling abroad.
2000 Sydney Morning Herald 31 May 19/1 One factor that's making the world more globalised is cheap air transport.
air-transportability n. chiefly Military the capability of being transported by aircraft.
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1946 in Amer. Speech (1948) 23 76 Air transportability.
1959 Times 3 Nov. 7/5 (advt.) Its inherent mobility and air transportability provides that flexibility which is of ever increasing importance in present and futures air defence.
2005 Business Day (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 21 Feb. 11 The US Army's ‘future combat systems’ may well be focused on the wrong goal: air transportability at the cost of all else.
air-transportable adj. chiefly Military capable of being transported by aircraft.
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1944 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) 16 Mar. 8/2 Sgt. Hendrix has been stationed at Camp Stewart..with an anti-aircraft air transportable medical detachment.
1991 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army (rev. ed.) xxii. 360 Challenger tanks are far too heavy to be air-transportable.
Air Transport Auxiliary n. an organization having charge of the transfer of aircraft between factories, airfields, maintenance depots, etc., for the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War.
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > person in control of aircraft or spacecraft > person in control of aircraft > wartime organization to assist airlines
Air Transport Auxiliary1939
1939 Flight 36 373/2 The units have been strengthened by..groups of pilots from..Air Transport Auxiliary. A.T.A. was originally formed by British Airways for..assisting the regular airline people to maintain communications during and after the expected full-scale bombing attacks on this country.
1998 Coin News May 43/2 Amelia's contemporary aviatrix, Amy Johnson, who allegedly vanished over the Channel (or the Thames) in 1941, on, it would seem, Air Transport Auxiliary Service.
air trap n. any of various devices for trapping air; esp. one for preventing the escape of foul air from a sewer.
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c1792 Encycl. Brit. IX. 85/1 If the soil requires it, cut a drain..and in that drain form a stink or air-trap..by sinking the drain so much lower in that place as it is high.
1852 C. King Progress City of N.Y. 56 This sewer was constructed without the simple contrivance of air-traps.
1908 F. H. King Ventilation 105 The duct is provided with a revolving cowl at the top..and with an air trap at the lower end to prevent the escape of warm air.
1948 Walla-Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 26 Sept. 14/3 An air trap captures any air bubbles or blood clots and the blood then flows back into another vein.
2003 Reno (Nevada) Gaz.-Jrnl. (Nexis) 1 Aug. 2C There is no longer any ‘sewer’ smell in the vicinity of the restrooms. This was remedied by pouring a little water down the air trap daily.
air truck n. now chiefly historical an aircraft used to transport cargo.
ΚΠ
1927 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Herald 28 July (heading) Air ‘trucks’—a Detroit concern is going to build all-metal planes of this type for freight service.
1927 Cornell Alumni News Aug. 499 McGovern was attorney for both parties, designed the truck body for the plane, and invented the description ‘air-truck’.
1945 Washington Post 6 Jan. 4/4 Williams' air trucks carry not only men and equipment, but everything under the sun. One plane flew 150 miles to drop a 35-pound package near a field hospital.
2004 J. Skilbeck tr. C. Allaz Hist. Air Cargo & Airmail from 18th Cent. iii. viii. 129 This ‘air truck’ had one special feature:..in order to simplify the loading and unloading of large-sized packages, the front of the cabin could be opened like a door.
air trunk n. an enclosed shaft or conduit for ventilation; an air duct.
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1743 S. Hales Descr. Ventilators 95 Air will be driven by the Door, thro' a Hole made in the Wall near the Floor, into the main Air-Trunk.
1811 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire I. 332 Air-trunks or Pipes are supported along the roof of a Sough.
1913 Times 6 Aug. 21 The equipment for the testing of centrifugal fans includes a special air trunk and differential draught gauge.
2006 Boston Globe (Nexis) 16 July h2 The main air trunks run through the basement.
air tube n. a tube designed or used for the passage of air; spec. (a) a trachea or tracheole in an insect; (b) the inner tube of a pneumatic tyre.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > parts of insects > [noun] > respiration > trachea
air tube1673
air vessel1673
the world > matter > gas > air > moving air > [noun] > passage, duct, or tube for conducting air
ventiduct1686
air passage1771
air tube1877
air pipe1889
airline1893
1673 N. Grew Idea Phytol. Hist. iii. 117 As the saline Principles are the Mould of the succiferous, so are the aerial of the Air-Tubes.
1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature i. iii. vi. 168/1 Each of the three kinds of Bees makes a noise by the motion of its wings, which is increased by the internal air propelled out of their bodies through the air tubes.
1806 R. Heber Jrnl. in A. Heber Life R. Heber (1830) I. v. 160 The building is..well ventilated with air-tubes.
1832 C. T. Thackrah Effects Arts on Health & Longevity (ed. 2) 40 Cloth-dressers..suffer considerably in the air-tube and the lungs.
1877 Engineering 16 Nov. 381/3 The air-tube of a diver's dress.
1894 Work 315/2 Repairing Air-tube of 1892 Dunlop.
1984 Econ. Hist. Rev. 37 37 The component parts of the tyres—the outer strips for forming the tread of the tyre, the air tubes, and the canvas—were purchased from rubber manufacturers.
2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. x. 288 Size is restricted..by their method of respiration, which limits their oxygen intake: a system of air-tubes called tracheae that open into spiracles in the surface armour.
air tunnel n. †(a) a large pipe for ventilation (obsolete); (b) = wind tunnel n. at wind n.1 Compounds 2.
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the world > matter > physics > mechanics > dynamics > fluid dynamics > [noun] > aerodynamics > wind tunnels
air tunnel1805
tunnel1911
wind tunnel1911
wind-channel1918
smoke tunnel1931
spinning tunnel1934
hotshot1957
1805 Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Sept. 34 It [sc. a furnace] had three principle parts: 1. the air tunnel and ash-hole; 2. the fire-place; 3. the hearth and chimney.
1847 M. F. Tupper Probabilities 96 Such helps to ventilation as leathern pipes, air tunnels and similar appliances.
1902 Science 29 Aug. 342/2 In a special building..is a wooden air tunnel fifty feet long by six feet square in cross sections, having a five-foot suction fan at one end.
2003 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 270 1602/2 The testing platform or frame was placed in an air tunnel with upward currents.
air turbine n. a turbine driven by the motion of air, esp. compressed air.
ΚΠ
1846 F. W. Campin Brit. Patent 11,058 (1855) The propelling apparatus consists..of a set of pneumatic helicondal [sic] fly wheels, or air turbines, by the aid of which the motion so acquired and the adhesion of the wheels are kept up.
1945 Jrnl. Exper. Zool. 100 398 Subjected to ultracentrifugation in a small air-turbine..machine.
1986 D. Hedley World Energy (ed. 2) 170 A further promising device..uses the changes in air pressure in a tube caused by the rise and fall of water, to drive an air turbine.
air twist n. a spiral used for decorative effect in the stem of a drinking glass.
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the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > glass > stem > flange or rib on
air twist1897
merese1923
1897 A. Hartshorne Old Eng. Glasses 58 The beaded stems, out of which the air twists were derived, continued to be made in Holland.
1903 Burlington Mag. Sept.–Oct. 63/1 The secret of the construction of two of the classes—namely, the brilliant, and the combined opaque and air twist—seems to have been lost.
1916 J. S. Lewis Old Glass 62 The air-twist probably began with a ‘tear’.
1990 Antique Collector May 145 (caption) An ale glass, the bowl finely engraved with hops and barley on a double-knopped air-twist stem. Circa 1750.
air twisted adj. (of the stem of a drinking glass) having an air twist.
ΚΠ
1897 A. Hartshorne Old Eng. Glasses 58 Air-twisted stems of various kinds.
1910 Times 13 Apr. 10/4 A Jacobite wine-glass with air twisted stem.
1934 Times 18 July 11/4 The glass is on an air twisted stem, and has another rare feature in its wide folded foot.
2003 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 23 Nov. 4 Balusters, goblets, rummers, and flutes, many with air-twisted stems.
air umbrella n. a force of aircraft used to give air protection to a military operation.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > group or unit on operation > [noun] > force giving air cover
air umbrella1941
umbrella1941
1941 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 14 May 138 They slink along from port to port under the protection of their air umbrella.
2005 Seattle Times (Nexis) 14 Oct. a12 The Kurds all but won their independence after the first Gulf War, thanks to a U.S. air umbrella in the 1990s.
air vent n. an opening, either natural or man-made, that allows air to pass out of or into a confined space. In quot. 1733: such an opening in the swim bladder of a fish.
ΚΠ
1733 S. Humphreys tr. N. A. Pluche Spectacle de la Nature I. ii. xiii. 141 They [sc. fish] ought to swell and contract themselves proportionable to their intended Elevation or Descent, and to be able properly to open or close the Air-vent [Fr. robinet d'air].
1854 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. I. 249 The outside walls are built hollow, having an air-vent 3 inches wide.
1938 J.-B. O. Sneeden Introd. Internal Combustion Engin. (new ed.) x. 171 A small air vent or blow-off valve should be placed on the top tank of the radiator to prevent the pressure rising in the cooling circuit.
2002 J. Cartwright White Lightning xii. 96 The little volcanic air vents that erupt in the sand as the waves roll back.
Air Vice-Marshal n. (also with lower-case initials) (the title of) a high rank of officer in the Royal Air Force, above air commodore and below air marshal.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > airman > [noun] > officer in air force > vice-marshal
Air Vice-Marshal1919
1919 Times 4 Aug. 12/6 His Majesty..has approved of new titles for the commissioned ranks of the Royal Air Force. These are..Marshal of the Air, Air Chief-Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Vice-Marshal...It will probably be some time before we have a Marshal of the Air, as at present there is no officer of the rank of either Air Chief-Marshal or Air Marshal.
1955 Times 20 July 8/7 The Queen has approved the promotion of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands to the honorary rank of Air Vice-Marshal Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, with effect from July 8.
1995 Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 9/1 Air Vice Marshal David Cousins, 53, will take over as Air Member for Personal and Training Command later this months in the three-star rank of air marshal.
airview n. an aerial photograph.
ΚΠ
1920 Geogr. Jrnl. 55 435 That is the only air view of Medina that I believe exists.
2000 Grimsby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 2 Mar. 1 Don't miss our..special publication featuring villagers, memories and airviews.
air volcano n. [after French volcan d'air (1810 in the passage translated in quot. 1814)] now rare = mud volcano n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > volcanic formations > [noun] > volcanic vent
chimneyc1374
vent1604
firepit1651
spiraculum1670
spiracle1671
solfatara1764
sulphur1764
volcanic crater1776
fumarole1811
air volcano1814
mud volcano1816
salse1831
blowhole1858
pipe1877
soufrière1879
bocca1881
mofette1887
pan1888
blowing-cone1895
smoke-hole1899
fault-vent1903
1814 H. M. Williams tr. A. von Humboldt Res. Anc. Inhabitants Amer. II. 94 (title) Air volcano of Turbaco [Fr. Volcan d'air de Turbaco].
1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 250 Certain remarkable orifices of eruption..to which the names of mud-volcanoes, salses, air-volcanoes, and macalubas have been applied.
1998 San Antonio (Texas) Express-News (Nexis) 10 May k1 Some people believe the church was put there to cap an ‘air volcano’ and thus protects the city.
air warden n. [probably after German Luftwart] = air raid warden n. at air raid n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > others concerned with military affairs > [noun] > air-raid warden, fire-watcher, etc.
fire-watcher1830
street warden1835
air warden1933
air raid warden1936
warden1936
paraspotter1940
roof-spotter1940
roof-watcher1940
1933 Times 16 Aug. 10/3 Measures of defence against aerial attack are being prepared with extraordinary thoroughness by the Reich Air Defence League... Fire-fighting and first-aid teams are to be formed in each house, under the leadership of a carefully selected and trained ‘house air warden’.]
1933 Times 19 Aug. 7/4 The dropping of gas bombs was first reported by the ‘air warden’ of a house in the Neue Strasse.
1938 Times Weekly 27 Jan. 8/2 The appointment by local authorities in Great Britain of voluntary air wardens and fire-fighters.
2005 Carmarthen Jrnl. (Nexis) 3 Aug. 10 In 1945..Mr Skyrme was living in Camberwell and lodging with an air warden and his family.
air washer n. an apparatus for cleaning air that passes through it, typically by removing particulate matter from it and humidifying it.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > ventilation and air-conditioning > [noun] > air-conditioner
air filter1853
air washer1876
air conditioner1909
conditioner1938
1876 U.S. Patent 185,565 1/1 The invention consists in the combination of an air-pump and an air washer or purifier.
1944 G. E. Mitchell in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder vi. 260/1 The plant usually consists of an air-washer, a centrifugal fan, air-heater; and distributing ductwork.
2004 R. S. Sennott Encycl. 20th Cent. Archit. II. 595 Manufacturers of mechanical systems were quick to capitalize on this emerging concern with hygiene and cleanliness, and air washers were incorporated into mechanical heating and ventilation systems.
air waybill n. a shipping document recording the details of a consignment of airfreight so as to ensure and facilitate delivery.
ΚΠ
1933 N.Y. Times 5 Feb. 7/4 A simple form of rail-air ticket has been put in effect and a standard air waybill established for air express.
2006 Air Cargo World (Nexis) 6 July 12 According to IATA more than 35 million air waybills were sent globally in 2005.
air whistle n. a whistle operated by the force of compressed air; cf. steam-whistle n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > [noun] > sounding of whistle > types of whistle used as signal
steam-whistle1840
air whistle1853
police whistle1872
bull1884
1842 Times 9 Dec. 5/5 The plan proposed for working the condensed air whistle is extremely simple.]
1853 Times 24 Mar. 3/5 Another of the exhibitors proposed to use an air whistle, placed in the guard's van, the air to be pumped into a cylinder fitted with a safety-valve, and worked by means of a piston rod and eccentric attached to one of the van axles.
1870 W. Boyd Morse Alph. Telegraphy by steam-whistle, air-whistle, musical instrument, or light.
1975 Amer. Ethnol. 2 279 Locomotive whistle and communicating (air whistle inside of locomotive cab) signals use many combinations of long and short whistles.
2005 Daily News (New Plymouth, N.Z.) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 4 It has a micro-processor which produces synthesised steam loco noises... There is also an air-whistle.
air yacht n. a small or private airship or aircraft, esp. a luxuriously appointed one.
ΚΠ
1898 Aeronaut. Jrnl. July 54/2 The millionaire who indulges in an air yacht.
1902 F. Walker Aërial Navigation 116 Greater efficiency to be attained by air-ships..relatively to..the one or two passenger air-yachts.
1920 Flight 12 865/1 A converted..flying boat, fitted up as an ‘aerial yacht’... This air yacht—elegantly furnished with two cabins seating 10 passengers..was officially launched..on June 22.
2002 Washington Post (Nexis) 7 Nov. a24 President Bush.., using Air Force One as though it were his personal air yacht and dropping in on events to fatten the war chests of Republican candidates.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2022).

† airn.2

Forms: Middle English ayere, Middle English ayr, Middle English eir, Middle English eyr, Middle English eyre, Middle English heir.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French aïr.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French aïr, Middle French ayr (French †aïr ) fierceness, ardour, violence, impetuosity, anger (12th cent.) < aïrer , aïrier to upset, infuriate (a person) (12th cent.), to become upset or angry (c1155, used reflexively) < an unattested post-classical Latin form *adirare < classical Latin ad- ad- prefix + īra ire n.Compare Old Occitan azirar (11th cent.; also airar ), Catalan aïrar (14th cent.), Spanish airar (a1250), Italian adirare (a1250), all in sense ‘to become upset or angry’ (used reflexively), also (much rarer) in sense ‘to dislike or bear a grudge against (a person)’. With with great air compare Anglo-Norman a grant aïr (13th cent. or earlier), Anglo-Norman and Old French de grant aïr (second half of the 12th cent.), Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French par grant aïr (early 13th cent. or earlier). The variant reading ire in quots. c1325, a1450 shows substitution of the partial synonym ire n. N.E.D. (1884) enters the word under air n.1 II.
Obsolete.
Impetuosity, violence, force, anger.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [noun]
brathc1175
reighshipc1275
airc1300
ragec1330
sturdinessc1384
violencea1387
fierceness1435
vehemencyc1487
furiosity1509
fiercetya1513
bremeness?1529
boistousness1530
vehemence1535
bruteness1538
violency1538
violentness1544
vehementness1561
wrath1579
fury1585
torture1605
keenness?1606
ragingness1621
stiffness1623
rapt1632
tempestuousness1648
boisterousnessa1650
rampancy1652
boisture1667
untamedness1727
paroxysm1893
storminess1894
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) l. 164 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 224 (MED) Þe yle quakede anon & wiþ gret eir hupte al vp.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8178 He turnde is stede wiþ god eir [?a1425 Digby Ire].
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 5101 (MED) Wyþ such an ayr fulle þay þan, þat of þe tour þay affulde a pan four feþeme on lengþe & brede.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 1484 Alle þer flote com with grete eyre.
a1450 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Caius) (1810) 5702 The stede ran ryght, with gret ayr [a1400 Egerton ire, c1450 BL Add. ayere], Al so harde as they myght dure.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

airv.

Brit. /ɛː/, U.S. /ɛ(ə)r/
Forms: see air n.1
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; perhaps originally modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: air n.1
Etymology: < air n.1, perhaps originally after Middle French aerer, ayrer (French aérer) to expose to the open air, to ventilate (1398). Compare Middle French airier to expose (one's body) to the fresh air (late 14th cent.), Old Occitan ayreiar to refresh the air in, to ventilate (a room) (c1350).Apart from sense 1, most senses of the English verb are not paralleled in French until considerably later (e.g., sense 3a not before the late 19th cent.), if at all. With sense 8 compare slightly earlier airable adj.
I. Senses related to air n.1 I.
1. transitive. To expose to the open air, to ventilate; occasionally with out. Also intransitive: to be exposed to the open air, to be ventilated.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > freshen (air) [verb (transitive)] > expose to fresh air
weatherc1440
air1530
wither1544
ventilate1756
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > ventilation and air-conditioning > condition air [verb (transitive)] > ventilate
air1530
serene1753
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 419/2 I ayre or wether, as men do thynges whan they lay them in the open ayre, or as any lynen thyng is after it is newe wasshed or it be worne, Jayre... Ayre these clothes for feare of mothes.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Inspiro Lette the granerde be ayred with the northen winde lette in at small windowes.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. li. 547 The more that oyle is aired and stirred, so much the more cleare it is.
1639 W. Cartwright Royall Slave Prol. sig. A2v The Stage being ayr'd now, and the Court Not smelt.
1673 T. Shadwell Epsom-Wells i. i. 6 I am almost sick at Epsom, when the wind sits to bring any of the smoak this way, and by my good will would not talk with a man that comes from thence till he hath ayr'd himself a day or two.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 60 Let him..wicker Baskets weave, or aire the Corn. View more context for this quotation
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 246 They..caused the Bales to be opened and air'd.
1750 G. G. Beekman Let. 3 Dec. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 135 Your 4 pieces Linnin Shirts etc. are all out the box airing and Shall be forwarded by first good Oppertunity.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives VI. cvii. 137 It is furnished; but it must be aired, for I would not have her die a paltry catch-cold death.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality xi, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 251 To brush and air them [sc. doublet and cloak] from time to time.
1859 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing i. 12 Always air your room..from the outside air, if possible.
1868 ‘F. Fern’ Folly as it Flies 289 Puts her two shoes on the window-sill ‘to air’ every night.
1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 10/4 Take the hair down, comb it out carefully and then shake it out strand by strand to air it and to free it from dust.
1958 Sunday Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 1 June 7/5 Air the rooms thoroughly. Always receive your guests in a cool, freshly ventilated room.
1980 D. T. Homel tr. L. Caron Draft Dodger ii. 50 My father's wildcat coat had been taken out of mothballs and hung on the clothesline for a few days to air out.
2001 Pract. Householder Jan. 28/2 Improve ventilation by ‘airing’ the house at least once a day.
2. transitive. To expose to heat, to dry or warm at a fire, in a heated cupboard, etc., esp. so as to expel damp. Also intransitive: to be exposed to heat in this way. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > dryness > dry [verb (transitive)] > by exposure to heat
parcha1382
air1539
torrefy1601
fire1825
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > subjection or exposure to heat or fire > subject or expose to heat or fire [verb (transitive)]
parcha1382
air1539
fire1549
braze1581
concoct1607
assate1657
burn1669
neal1672
grilly1678
1539 King Edward vi in Lit. Remains (1857) I. p. xxviii Rayment..brought of newe to and for his grace's bodye..shalbe purely brusshed, made clene, ayred at the fyer, and perfumed throughly.
1579 T. Lupton Thousand Notable Things x. 277 After you haue sweat, put on a cleane shert wel ayred at the fyre.
1610 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 338 To make fires to ayer the chamber.
1679 J. Crowne Ambitious Statesman ii. 19 To carry Charcoale in to air his Shirt.
1689 Lady Russell Lett. (1733) 133 I shall come and air your beds for a night.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 67 While the Bed was airing.
1760 R. Symmer in Philos. Trans. 1759 (Royal Soc.) 51 350 After being a little air'd at the fire.
1813 M. Edgeworth Patronage (1833) II. xxxi. 311 Nothing airs a house so well as a warm friend.
1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases Air, to warm moderately, as with drink. When excessively cold it is aired at the fire.
1912 A. M. N. Lyons Clara viii. 73 I'm only a little dis'eartened because the motor's broken down and my French maid forgot to air the curling-tongs.
1931 A. A. Milne Two People v. 71 On his way he opened the linen-cupboard. Clean clothes airing.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Dec. 575/1 In almost all houses the hot-water cupboard was used for airing clothes.
2000 Irish Times (Nexis) 10 June 13 They boiled the old black kettle on a big, open turf fire and aired the clothes on a line strung above it.
3.
a. transitive. To exercise (a horse or dog) in the open air. Cf. airing n. 2a.
ΚΠ
1593 G. Markham Disc. Horsmanshippe iv. sig. L4 Ayre him an howre or two before day, taking great care that hee emptie himselfe thorowly whilst he is abroade.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice vi. 35 The next day following, which is the day before your race day, you shall ayre, order & feed your horse.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xix. 184/2 Termes used about dressing and feeding of horses... Scop or aire him.
1738 Monthly Chronologer 412/1 He..rode thro' Hyde Park, at which place there were several Gentlemens Servants airing their horses.
1785 R. Cumberland Nat. Son i. 6 Blushenly, have you aired my lap-dog?
1825 Common Events xiii. 203 One of the grooms now passed airing the horses, and being stopped by the Croakers, gave them the joyful tidings.
1894 J. Davidson Bruce ii. iii. 159 My husband's horses must be aired to-day.
1937 Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press 15 Sept. 9/5 Owners and grooms aired the horses which have arrived from out of town.
1996 City Paper (Baltimore) 22 May 15/3 This expanse of greenery north of Mount Washington is also known as ‘the dog park,’ for the number of folks who air their panting beasts there.
b. transitive (reflexive). To expose oneself to the fresh air; to take the air; to go for a walk outdoors.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > refreshment or invigoration > refresh or invigorate [verb (reflexive)]
resteOE
ease1330
roa1400
ronea1400
refreshc1405
recomfortc1425
breathea1470
unweary1530
recreate1542
aira1616
recruit1646
refect1646
regale1682
unfatigue1734
renew1783
cheer1784
delassitude1807
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [verb (reflexive)] > expose oneself to fresh air
takea1393
aira1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) i. i. 111 Were you but riding forth to ayre yourselfe. View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Smith England's Improvem. Reviv'd 146 Passage wayes..for the Rabbets to go in and out at, from their dry food, to feed, sport, and air themselves in the Grass or Pasture.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 159. ¶2 As I was here airing my self on the Tops of the Mountains.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. i. 48 I, thinking of nothing at all, was quietly airing myself on the mountain by moonlight.
1825 C. Lamb in London Mag. May 68 To go and air myself in my native fields.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 75 And fain had haled him out into the world, And air'd him there.
1921 Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator 9 Feb. 7/5 The inhabitants of the lower deck had taken advantage of the fine weather to air themselves.
1957 C. Beaton Diary Aug. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xxi. 311 Great jewelled ladies supping at Maxim's or airing themselves in all manner of équipages in the Bois.
1975 P. G. Winslow Death of Angel x. 204 The neighbours would not be likely to air themselves in their gardens in a steady mizzle.
1998 Evening Standard (Nexis) 19 Nov. 21 The Welsh Harp Sunbathing Riot of 1930, when angry crowds set about pioneer nudists airing themselves at the west London reservoir.
c. intransitive. To go for a walk outdoors for the purpose of taking air or exercise. Now only in African-American usage with out.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > refreshment or invigoration > become refreshed or invigorated [verb (intransitive)]
to take (one's, a) breatha1398
to pull, shake oneself togethera1400
wheta1400
recomfortc1425
revigour1447
breathe1485
respirea1500
convailc1500
unweary1530
air1633
recruit1644
refresh1644
reanimate1645
invigorate1646
rally1646
to perk upa1656
renovate1660
reawake1663
freshen1694
renervate1801
recuperate1843
to recharge one's (also the) batteries1911
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [verb (intransitive)] > expose oneself to open air
to sit out1616
air1633
1633 P. Massinger New Way to pay Old Debts i. ii. sig. C Ile take the ayre alone. Furnace. You aire, and aire, But will you neuer tast but spoonemeate more?
1731 A. Pope Epist. to Earl of Burlington 19 The well-bred Cuckolds in St. James's air.
1748 T. Blackwell Lett. conc. Mythol. xiii. 157 He slept long, eat delicately, rubbed, bathed, aired and walked.
1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville I. 209 She has owned her passion to me as we aired.
1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 260 She..went airing every day.
1830 T. Hamilton Cyril Thornton (1845) 121 Lady Amersham has gone out airing..in her pony phaeton.
1942 Amer. Mercury July 85 So this day he was airing out on the Avenue.
4. figurative.In some later uses at senses 4a, 4b perhaps influenced by air n.1 17.
a. transitive. To expose to public view, wear openly; (in later use) to show (something) off, to parade ostentatiously.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > make ostentatious display of [verb (transitive)]
flourishc1380
show1509
ostent1531
ostentatec1540
to ruffle it1551
to brave out1581
vaunt1590
boasta1592
venditate1600
to make the most ofa1627
display1628
to make (a) parade of1656
pride1667
sport1684
to show off1750
flash1785
afficher1814
affiche1817
parade1818
flaunt1822
air1867
showboat1937
ponce1953
rock1987
1600 W. Cornwallis Ess. I. xxiii. sig. M8 I haue beene afraide to weare fashions, vntill they haue beene ayred by a generall vse.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. ii. 5 Though I haue (for the most part) bin ayred abroad, I desire to lay my bones there. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iv. 96 I begge but leaue to ayre this Iewell. View more context for this quotation
1778 A. Ross Helenore (ed. 2) 71 To air his rousty coin.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess i. 18 Airing a snowy hand and signet gem.
1867 Church & State Rev. 30 Mar. 292 The discussionists cannot resist the temptation..to air their vocabulary.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 364 To air their importance and their imbecility.
1928 H. Last in Cambr. Anc. Hist. VII. xii. 390 In A.D. 48..he took the opportunity of airing his knowledge of antiquity in the speech preserved by Tacitus and by the bronze tables now in Lyons.
1977 J. Raban in I. Hamilton Penguin Bk. 20th-cent. Ess. (1999) 469 I'd picked up an impressive vocabulary which I was perpetually airing and adding to.
2006 Toro (Canada) Summer 24/2 Two years after Jackson aired her right areola during the Super Bowl.., the nipple slip has become the defining pop-culture symbol of our times.
b. transitive (reflexive). To display oneself publicly, show oneself off; also occasionally intransitive. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > make ostentatious display or show off [verb (intransitive)]
brandishc1340
ruffle1484
braga1556
swash1556
flourish1563
flaunt1566
prank1567
prink1573
to shake, wag the feather1581
peacockize1598
air1605
display1608
to launch it out1608
flasha1616
to cut it out1619
flare1633
vapour1652
peacock1654
spark1676
to gallantrize it1693
bosh1709
glare1712
to cut a bosh1726
to show away1728
to figure away, off1749
parade1749
to cut a dashc1771
dash1786
to cut up1787
to cut a flash1795
to make, or cut, a splash1804
swank1809
to come out strong1825
to cut a spludge1831
to cut it (too) fat1836
pavonize1838
splurge1844
to do the grand1847
to cut a swath1848
to cut a splurge1860
to fan out1860
spread1860
skyre1871
fluster1876
to strut one's stuff1926
showboat1937
floss1938
style1968
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > make ostentatious display [verb (reflexive)]
to feat oneself fortha1400
peacocka1586
venditate1600
air1828
overplume1890
spread1891
showboat1984
1605 B. Jonson Sejanus i. 483 When his grace is merely but lip-good, And, that no longer, then he aires himselfe Abroad in publique, there, to seeme to shun The stroakes, and stripes of Flatterers. View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 17 To have his Name only stand airing upon the College Tables.
1828 C. Lamb Child Angel in Elia 2nd Ser. 158 A poor human fancy may have leave to sport and air itself.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People x. §2. 742 The young sovereign who aired himself in the character..of a Patriot King.
1889 Evening News 6 Nov. 2/6 When it is the fashion for histrions to air themselves in print.
1911 Sandusky (Ohio) Reg. 1 Jan. 4/5 Scores of young men in gala togs are airing themselves at every hour of the day.
1942 PMLA 57 1050 The new monarch, who freely aired himself as Bolingbroke's Patriot King, seemed to offer a happy ending.
c. transitive. To give expression to, make public (an opinion, grievance, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > intimation or making known > intimate or make known (something) [verb (transitive)]
speakc825
areadc885
meldeOE
sayOE
yknowa1225
warnc1275
bekena1300
wraya1300
signifyc1325
declarec1340
to speak outc1384
discuss1389
notifyc1390
bida1400
advertise1447
notice1447
detectc1465
render1481
minister1536
to set outa1540
summonc1540
intimate1548
acquaint1609
phrase1614
voice1629
denote1660
unlade1717
apprise1817
aira1902
1864 A. J. Evans Macaria xxiv. 117 Don't you know that I am a sort of latter-day troglodyte, very rarely airing my pet creeds for the benefit of the public?
1879 R. H. Elliot Written on their Foreheads I. 13 A chance of airing some of his pet theories.
a1902 S. Butler Way of All Flesh (1903) lv. 251 He did not air any of his schemes to me until I had drawn him out concerning them.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 595 Skin-the-Goats..was airing his grievances.
1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. i. 17 I don't relish..the prospect of hearing Rose Lorimer air her crazy theories.
1984 Church Times 9 Nov. 11/1 Whilst recognising the impact made by Billy Graham's visit, it is important to air a number of issues—particularly in view of his mission in Sheffield next year.
2005 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 24 Mar. r5/6 Rappers themselves seem less conflicted about the value of publicly airing grievances in interviews or beef records.
†5. transitive. To leave (pasture) unstocked. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > management of pasture > use as pasture [verb (transitive)] > leave pasture unstocked
aira1642
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 87 These closes weare..ayred and kept fresh from Munday the 28th of February till Munday the 4th of Aprill.
1798 G. Culley Let. 26 Nov. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 3 You must know that the custom of that country is to hair or free the pasture grounds for the outcoming tenants at Lady Day and eat the meadow ground untill the 14th of May.
†6. intransitive. With away. To pass into air, evaporate. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > becoming or making into gas > become gas [verb (intransitive)] > become vapour > evaporate
evaporate1567
exhalate1599
transpire1643
air1661
fly1732
1661 O. Felltham Resolves (rev. ed.) ii. lv. 298 As water set abroad, it airs away to nothing by only standing still.
7. transitive. Originally U.S. To broadcast (a recording, a programme, etc.). Also intransitive (chiefly U.S.): to be broadcast. Cf. air n.1 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > [verb (transitive)]
broadcast1921
programme1930
air1933
society > communication > broadcasting > [verb (intransitive)] > be broadcast
to go out1917
air1974
1933 Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald 27 Feb. 12/7 Later in the evening a variety program was aired.
1960 Guardian 12 Oct. 9/2 The independent network that aired the programme.
1974 Greenville (S. Carolina) News 20 Apr. 10/4 ‘Planet Earth’, which airs on ABC Tuesday, is in a way the flip side of ‘Star Trek’.
2007 Korea Times (Nexis) 13 Mar. KTF..is airing TV advertisements featuring Paik Nam-june's famous artworks.
†II. Senses related to air n.1 II.
8. transitive. To set to music, to sing (a verse, etc.). Also intransitive: to sing an air. Cf. airable adj. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > compose [verb (transitive)] > set to music
set1502
air1608
musicate1614
compose1685
melodize1881
music1897
musicalize1919
1608 T. Heywood Rape of Lucrece sig. G4 v I prethee sing Valerius that I may ayre with thee.
1609 T. Heywood Troia Britanica viii. 170 A sweeter verse then good Isaias wrote..Were neuer set with pen, or ayr'd with toong.
1653 J. Cobb in H. Lawes Ayres & Dial. To Lawes sig. A For not a drop that flows from Helicon But Ayr'd by thee grows streight into a Song.

Phrases

colloquial. to air one's (dirty) laundry (also linen) and variants: to reveal or discuss private matters, esp. of a scandalous or controversial nature (cf. to wash one's dirty linen at home, to wash one's dirty linen in public at linen n. 3a).
ΚΠ
1872 Chicago Tribune 18 Feb. 4/2 If Congressmen have dirty linen to air, let them air it at home among their constituents.
1923 Los Angeles Times 12 Dec. i. 2/7 Dirty Linen is Aired in Paris Suit... Heiress in Court Fight on Breach of Marriage Contract.
1967 Boston Sunday Herald 7 May (TV Mag. section) 11/2 Lana Turner and Cliff Robertson airing their linen in Mexico.
1988 Guardian (Nexis) 30 May They thought it was very un-Guards Officerly to air their dirty laundry in public.
2004 Company Mar. 168/1 Don't air your dirty laundry to the IT guy or tell the girl on reception that your ex wasn't very well endowed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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