air balloonn.

1749 Descr. Machine for Fireworks 9 120 Large Honorary Rockets. 96 Rockets in two Flights. 14 Mortars with Air Ballons.

1753 Public Advertiser 25 May A cascade, and shower of fire, and grand air-balloons, were most magnificently displayed.

1765 R. Jones New Treat. Artific. Fireworks ii. 47 (heading) Air Ballóóns Fuzes.

1783 Morning Chron. 8 Sept. 3/4 The first air-balloon he made was filled with fumous particles.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1784 II. 541 [Johnson:] On one day I had three letters about the air-balloon.

1829 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. vi. §51. 28 Aërostats, or air-balloons, are machines, constructed so as to be able to rise in the atmosphere.

1861 Illustr. Dublin Jrnl. 23 Nov. 191 She had no more idea of any such proceeding than I have of taking a journey to the moon in an air balloon.

1907 Daily Mail 9 July 7/4 In July 1901 M. Santos Dumont flew from St. Cloud round the Eiffel Tower and back in his steerable air balloon.

1938 Times 4 Mar. 10/4 The newspapers are full of plans for air raid precautions, including an air balloon barrage over London.

2000 Geogr. Jrnl. 166 55/1 Unfortunately there are no radiosonde or air balloon data available for the Ethiopian Highlands to explore these upper air characteristics in more detail.

1883 G. R. Sims Ballads & Poems 121 I shall..buy myself an air-balloon, a bucket, and a spade.

1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales 155 The child was jumping for joy, and had a green air-balloon in his hand.

1908 H. G. Wells War in Air vi. §2 Small children's air-balloons of the latest model attached to string became a serious check to the pedestrian in Central Park.

1944 O. Sitwell Autobiogr. (1945) I. ii. vi. 227 Fashionable beauties, with psyches that resembled air-balloons, inflated, light and highly coloured.

2004 Home Hill (Australia) Observer (Nexis) 22 July 606 Helium, latex and air balloons are all available and can be arranged with a soft toy or flowers.