hang glider

American  

noun

1. a kitelike glider consisting of a V -shaped wing underneath which the pilot is strapped: kept aloft by updrafts and guided by the pilot's shifting body weight.

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hang-glider British  

noun

1. an unpowered aircraft consisting of a large cloth wing stretched over a light framework from which the pilot hangs in a harness, using a horizontal bar to control the flight

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Other Word Forms

• hang-gliding noun

Etymology

Origin of hang glider

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

He was returning from a ski trip in Mammoth when he learned of the evacuation orders for his Topanga home in the Santa Monica Mountains, said Steve Murillo, a longtime friend and fellow hang glider.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2025

A hang glider is a triangular, kite-like aircraft flown by a pilot who is suspended horizontally underneath.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 18, 2023

Newly presented is German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal’s elegant Standard Glider, an antique version of the modern hang glider.

From Washington Post • Oct. 6, 2022

Gravity A hang glider dropped his cell phone from a height of 350 feet.

From Textbooks • Apr. 22, 2020

Even Ron would tell anyone who’d listen about the time he’d almost hit a hang glider on Charlie’s old broom.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling