balloonaticn.adj.
/bəˈluːnətɪk/, U.S. /bəˈlunətɪk/ A. n.
A person who is balloon-mad; a balloonist, spec. (Military slang) a member of a balloon corps or balloon squadron in the First World War (1914–18).
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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
1854 Alton (Illinois) Weekly Courier 30 Mar. 4/2 Table showing the probable duration of life (100 Representing the chance of living longest.)... Balloonatic 7, Parliament Reporter 9¾, [etc.].
1865 Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 5/3 That Nadar, the balloonatic, has sold his balloon.
1918 Daily Mail 20 Sept. 2/5 Every ‘balloonatic’ knows that when a balloon is attacked it is only once in twenty times that it is saved. He knows he will have to jump.
1920 E. Haslett Luck on Wing 100 He had the Prussian idea of discipline and he took it out on the balloonatics whenever he felt they needed it.
1975 Los Angeles Times 9 Nov. i. 7 Balloonists, he said, are ‘dedicated people with a flair for the unusual. Balloonatics, we are sometimes called.’
2006 PC Gamer Apr. 141/3 Balloonatics have taken over.
B. adj.
Balloon-mad, balloon-crazy.
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1882 Moonshine 5 163 Another balloonatic attempt to cross the Channel.
1927 C. Mackenzie Rogues & Vagabonds viii. 108 The size women are wearing their sleeves nowadays. Balloon sleeves they call them. Balloonatic sleeves I should say.
1971 K. Isaacs Mil. Aircraft Austral. i. 2/2 Ballooning spread to many countries, and..all Europe went ‘balloonatic’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.adj.1854