airship

[ air-ship ]

noun

1. a self-propelled, lighter-than-air aircraft with means of controlling the direction of flight; dirigible.

airship

/ ˈɛəˌʃɪp /

noun

1. a lighter-than-air self-propelled craft Also calleddirigiblezeppelin

Word History and Origins

Origin of airship¹

1810–20, for an earlier sense; air ¹ + ship ¹

Example Sentences

“If we had the airships there sooner, they could have … just offloaded patients right into the airships to go to the trauma center.”

From Los Angeles Times

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a trip to China, calling the airship's presence an "irresponsible act".

From BBC

“As we had made it clear before, the airship, used for meteorological research, unintentionally drifted into U.S. because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability,” Mr. Liu said.

From Washington Times

The skeleton helps the airship keep its shape.

From NewsForKids.net

In 1909, when women’s suffrage was omitted from the King’s Speech outlining the government’s legislative program, the league hired an airship to drop pamphlets over the capital.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• aircraft
• airliner
• cab
• jet
• plane
• ship