aerialn.
/ˈɛːrɪəl/, U.S. /ˈɛriəl/ΚΠ
1649 J. Sadler Rights of Kingdom 92 Our Ancestors did so willingly follow, the Voyce of Nature; in placing the Power Legislative, Iudicial & Executive, in 3 distinct Estates; (as in Animals, Aerials, Etherials or Celestials, 3 Regions; and 3 Principles in Naturals:).
1711 E. Ward Life Don Quixote II. xxix. 119 Whilst I am here, they shall not dare To singe or rob thee of a Hair; Therefore take heart, and thou shalt find We'll make the Æreals fly like Wind.
1743 J. W. Pamela 42 The faithful Sylphs dejected, upward go.., Heavy of Heart the light Aerials flew, Which the malicious Gnomes with Pleasure view.
1800 F. Gladwin tr. A. Allâmî Ayeen Akbery (new ed.) II. 452 The third division, or aerials, are of four species; 1, Domestic, and that have feathers, as pigeons. 2, Those whose wings are of skin, as bats.
ΚΠ
1661 J. H. tr. Paracelsus Bk. of Degrees iv. ix. 138 in Archidoxis In elementary sicknesses, (suppose in earthly ones) the Compound is not to be prepared higher then its Degree... The like is to be understood in Aereals [L. aereis], that nothing of the other Elements is to be thereto admixed.
3. A wire, rod, or other structure by which airborne radio waves are transmitted or received, usually as part of a radio or television transmission or receiving system; an antenna. Cf. aerial adj. 5.Chiefly used outside North America, where the usual term is antenna.beam, frame, horn, monopole, television aerial, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > aerial
radiator1897
aerial wire1899
aerial1902
antenna1902
loop antenna1906
loop aerial1913
twin aerial1913
frame aerial1916
loop1922
beam aerial1926
cage aerial1926
Adcock1928
dipole1929
V antenna1932
beam antenna1935
rig1935
horn1936
whip1940
whip aerial1941
whip antenna1943
polyrod1945
unipole1945
slot aerial1946
slot antenna1946
dish1948
quad1951
V aerial1961
dish aerial1962
rectenna1964
omni-antenna1966
monopole1974
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > device receiving signal > antenna for radio waves
aerial wire1899
aerial1902
antenna1902
sectoral horn1939
rhombic1940
1902 J. A. Fleming in Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 230/2 The great improvement introduced by Marconi was the employment of this vertical air-wire, aerial, antenna, or elevated conductor.
1903 Proc. Physical Soc. 18 390 In the case of the measurement of capacity of insulated wires or aerials, the aerial is connected to the middle brush.
1922 People's Home Jrnl. July 31/2 The aerial must then be connected by another wire with the receiving set inside the house.
1969 Jrnl. Inst. Navigation 22 475 The aircraft carries a small microwave aerial with built-in mixer unit..which acts as the integrating filter of the correlation detector.
1986 F. Guillou & C. Gray in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) v. vii. 823 It is becoming increasingly common for television and VHF aerial down-lead circuits to be installed as part of the wiring of a building.
2006 Daily Tel. 5 Dec. 10/1 The V-box connects to a roof-top aerial to pick up Freeview broadcasts, and a broadband internet connection for the video-on-demand services.
4. American Football. = forward pass n. (a) at forward adj., adv., and n. Additions.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > characteristics of team ball games > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
ball1483
through-pass1673
intercept1821
fielding1823
outfielding1851
wrist stroke1851
goalkeeping1856
shot1868
scrimmage1872
passing1882
save1883
touchback1884
angle shot1885
shooting1885
pass1887
line1891
tackling1893
feeding1897
centre1898
chip shot1899
glovework1906
back-lift1912
push pass1919
aerial1921
screen1921
ball-hawking1925
fast break1929
tackle1930
chip1939
screenshot1940
snapshot1961
hang time1969
one-two1969
blooter1976
passback1976
sidefoot1979
1921 Sunday State Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 13 Nov. i. 1/6 Captain Swanson did excellent work at his wing, spoiling numerous Kansas aerials.
1968 G. Sullivan Pro Football's All-Times Greats 186 He stole one of Witson Schwenk's aerials to beat out the Packer's Dan Hustan.
1977 Detroit Free Press 11 Dec. 1-D/2 Anderson ignited the comeback with a 57-yard aerial to Brooks that set up a 24-yard field goal by Chris Bahn.
2002 Jupiter (Florida) Courier (Nexis) 3 Nov. b2 Jordan Millard hauled in all four of Pifer's aerials, including a 77-yard touchdown reception with 2:26 to play.
5. In various sports: a manoeuvre executed in mid-air.
ΚΠ
1930 Olean (N.Y.) Evening Times 15 Sept. 7/1 A pair of skaters execute dizzy whirls and aerials.
1978 Skateboarder Nov. 4/1 (advt.) Roll ins, edgers, aerials or carves can be taken with more confidence.
1984 B. Osborn Compl. Bk. BMX 242/1 No big air till you earn your wings by pulling off consistent basic aerials.
1989 Sunday Times 10 Dec. h7/3 He begins the move with an aerial. This speaks for itself: the surfer does a sharp bottom turn, shoots up the wave with as much speed as he can muster and goes flying off the top to become airborne.
2002 J. Weyland Answer is Never xvi. 267 He did..backside varials—an aerial where the skater grabs the board and turns it 180 degrees to land on it backward.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
aerialadj.
/ˈɛːrɪəl/, U.S. /ˈɛriəl/α. 1500s aëriall, 1500s–1600s aereall, 1500s–1600s aeriall, 1500s– aërial (now rare), 1600s aëreal, 1600s aëreall, 1600s eriall, 1600s–1700s aereal, 1600s– aerial, 1700s aëriel, 1700s ariel, 1700s–1800s aeriel.
β. 1500s–1700s aierial, 1600s aieral, 1600s aiereal, 1600s aiereall, 1600s aieriall.
γ. 1600s–1700s aireal, 1600s–1700s airial.
I. Senses relating to the air or atmosphere.
1. Dwelling, flying, or moving in the air, above the earth; occurring or taking place in the air; (spec. of birds or bats) spending much of the time airborne.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > motion in the air > [adjective]
aerya1398
aerial?1545
coursing1600
volant1603
volatical1656
volatic1762
floating1781
aerian1865
volitant1891
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > of or belonging to the air > existing in the air
aerya1398
airlya1398
airya1398
airishc1450
aerial?1545
airsome1584
aerian1618
aericala1678
atmospheric1789
up in-the-air1848
?1545 J. Bale 2nd Pt. Image Both Churches ii. sig. Pvi Most effectuallye are they lyghtened wyth the sprete of God and prouoked stiflye to stande vp agaynst the aereall powers regnynge in the fyckle fantasticall Antychrystes and hypocrytes.
1582 C. Carlile Disc. conc. Two Diuine Positions f. 106v Eusebius..affirmeth that..deuells are called aeriall, because that the aer is theire place.
1598 I. D. tr. L. Le Roy Aristotles Politiques i. ii. 13 All liuing creatures Terrestriall, Aquaticall, Aëriall, or winged, both domesticall and sauadge, tame and wild, desire to liue togither in companies and assemblies of their owne kinde.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. i. ii. 63 Aeriall Divels are such as keepe quarter most part in the ayre.
1709 A. Pope Spring in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. 724 While She [sc. the Nightingale] sings..all th' Aerial Audience clap their Wings.
1746 G. Adams Micrographia Illustrata (title page) A natural History of a Multitude of Aerial, Terrestrial, and Aquatick Animals, Seeds, Plants. &c.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species vi. 184 Petrels are the most aërial and oceanic of birds.
1885 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 7 Mar. 6 Mlle. Preciosa Grigolatis, who is professionally known as ‘The Human Fly’,..does an astounding aerial acrobatic act.
1943 L. E. Schmeckebier John Stuart Curry's Pageant Amer. v. 210 A fourth group [of drawings of circus performers] comprises dozens of sketches on what is by far the most difficult problem: a combination of tense action and majesty that is so exhilarating to watch in such an aerial performance.
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) xl. 385 Most of them are strictly aerial animals. Others such as the common fowl and the extinct Dodo of Mauritius have secondarily become terrestrial.
1986 F. M. Burrows in D. R. Murray Seed Dispersal 1 (title) The aerial motion of seeds, fruits, spores and pollen.
2001 Trav. Afr. Winter 122/2 This bird conducts a remarkable aerial display.
2. Of, relating to, or produced in the air or atmosphere; atmospheric.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > of or belonging to the air
aerial1604
aerian1865
1604 J. Godskall Arke of Noah sig. C3v Fixing all our senses more vpon the aeriall corruption, then vpon the inward cause of the contagion, the rottennesse of our bones.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 122 Aerial Honey, and Ambrosial Dews. View more context for this quotation
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 166 Their airial, and aqueous, salubrious Subsistence.
1741 tr. J. A. Cramer Elements Art of assaying Metals ii. 412 There remains still a wandering fossile Acid, which fills also the aerial Region.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound ii. v. 91 As the aerial hue Of fountain-gazing roses.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) xv. §677. 370 On the edges of this remarkable aerial current the wind is variable.
1870 J. Tyndall Heat (ed. 4) vi. §206. 164 We live at the bottom of an aerial ocean.
1917 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 56 223 It represents a state of aërial motion which may be nearly approached.
1938 E. G. Richardson Physical Sci. Mod. Life ii. 52 Our sensation of intensity..is determined by the amplitude of the sound waves when they reach our ears. Such aerial waves..are longitudinal.
1968 Jrnl. Ecol. 56 284 Scots pine..[is] susceptible to injury by aerial pollution (SO2).
2005 BioScience (Nexis) 55 851 Global circulation patterns dictate that likely sources of spores transported by aerial currents to the continental United States would be from either South America or Africa.
3.
a. Placed or positioned high in the air; lofty, elevated. Also figurative.In quot. 1608 in the context of a pun, overlapping with sense 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > high position > [adjective]
highOE
high-seta1382
sovereigna1425
airy1565
sublime?1567
haughty1570
supernal1599
aerial1608
upward1622
high-top1653
superincumbent1659
supern1703
highish1778
high-up1831
high-level1842
altitudinous1868
the world > the earth > land > ground > [adjective] > on or above
aerial1608
superterraneala1629
supraterraneous1666
upper1667
superterraneous1671
superterraneana1681
superterrene1709
above ground1779
superterrestrial1828
supermundane1833
terricolous1835
terricole1840
overground1850
1608 T. Middleton Famelie of Love iv. sig. E4 She swore that all Gallants, were persons inferiour to bellowsmenders, for the trade of Bellowsmaking was very aeriall & high.
1620 Choyce Drollery in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 134 Cloud~grapling Chapman, whose Aerial minde Soares at Philosophy, and strikes it blinde.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis viii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 442 He clomb, with eager haste, th' Aerial height.
1729 R. Savage Wanderer iv. 92 The Stork inhabits her aërial Nest.
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man: Epist. III 14 Here Subterranean Works and Cities see, There Towns Aerial on the waving Tree.
1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 120 [Alchemilla alpina] Cinquefoil Ladies-Mantle. Anglis... one of the most aerial plants of N. Britain.
1867 G. H. Lewes Hist. Philos. (ed. 3) II. 97 Rising into the aerial altitudes of imagination.
1875 E. White Life in Christ ii. xii. 138 Against spirits of wickedness in the heavenlies, or aerial regions.
a1921 A. Teixeira de Mattos tr. J. H. Fabre Insect World of J. H. Fabre (1991) xxxvi. 291 With twigs and horse-hair and bits of wool, the Goldfinch, the Chaffinch and other masters of the builder's art construct an aerial bower in the fork of the branches.
1956 Jrnl. Warburg & Courtauld Inst. 19 257/2 Mediaeval legends concerning..a submarine dome and an aerial city.
2007 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 9 Aug. d8 The city's aerial vantage points are monopolized by..a handful of rooftop restaurants.
b. Designating a system for the transport of goods or passengers in which a load or vehicle is suspended from an overhead line.In quot. 1874, such a system used to guide a balloon. aerial railway, aerial tramway: an overhead (usually electrical) wire, cable, or rail supporting carriages; a method of transport using this.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle travelling on or by cable > [noun] > cableway or cable railway
rope-way1665
aerial railway1839
rope railway1849
tramway1872
funicular railway1874
suspension-railway1875
cable-road1882
telpher line1884
cable-railroad1887
cable-railway1887
cable tramway1887
funiculaire1888
funicular1888
cable-way1899
aerial tramway1904
blondin1906
teleferic1916
mono-cable1922
téléphérique1922
Seilbahn1963
1839 Mechanics' Mag. 31 Index Aerial railway, French.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 20/2 Aerial railway, an attempt to govern the balloon or aërostat by guiding rails or wires stretched between posts.
1889 Cent. Dict. at Aërial Aërial railway,..(b) A name sometimes applied to systems of transportation by cars suspended from a rail or rope above them.
1903 Buddhism 1 157 A gorgeous car..ran on an aerial ropeway to the top of the scaffolding from the Pogoda platform.
1904 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 57 23438/3 (title) Aerial tramways as an economic means of transportation.
1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 62/2 The aerial cableway is a development of the ropeway, and is a conveyor capable of hoisting and dumping at any desired point.
1927 Jrnl. Mammalogy 8 245 Quickly the adult came back over the aerial runway.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 196/1 Aerial Ropeways are used for transporting material in bulk over long distances and over hilly ground or valley... They consist of a series of towers carrying suspension wires to which are attached carriers for the material.
1978 J. F. Przeworski Decline Copper Industry in Chile (1980) Epil. 279 An aerial tramway system to carry ores from mine to mill.
1993 Harrowsmith Dec. 52/3 When a long-awaited 30-ton smelter was finally constructed, it cracked upon firing. An avalanche then wiped out an important aerial tramway.
2004 J. Marais & L. De Speville Adventure Racing v. 66/2 Zip wires..require you to take a leap of faith in order to go with gravity along an aerial cable slide.
4. Botany. Growing, or existing, in the air or above ground, esp. as opposed to underground or under water. See also aerial root n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > growing above ground
aerial1789
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > of or belonging to the air > existing in the air > as opposed to underground or in water
aerial1789
1789 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. II 146 As the aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by exposing a large surface of vessels with their contained fluids to the influence of the air; so these aquatic leaves answer a similar purpose , like the gills of fish.
1827 T. Nuttall Introd. Systematic & Physiol. Bot. ii. v. 307 When a land plant is made to grow under water, the new leaves, evolved under the water, have no pores, although those which they have suceeded, or the aërial leaves, were furnished with them.
1868 S. W. Johnson How Crops Grow ii. iii. 241 It has often been shown that a plant whose aerial branches are symmetrically disposed about its stem, has the larger share of its roots on one side.
1900 Bot. Gaz. 27 39 The use of the term ‘frond’ is unfortunate, since it was originally applied to the aerial part of the ordinary fern, which is morphologically quite different from the lemna plant.
1928 F. S. Earle Sugar Cane iv. 48 Besides its late maturing, another drawback is the tendency of the buds to sprout prematurely and develop aerial suckers.
1956 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 43 282/1 The formation of aerial tubers in the leaf axils of potato stems has been reported..from shoots of potato set in the soil.
1992 M. Ingrouille Diversity & Evol. Land Plants vi. 205 An important feature of bamboo trees is that the aerial portions (culms) are vegetatively determinate: they develop as a very short stem which then abruptly elongates.
5. Relating to or designating a wire, metal rod, or other structure supported in the air for the transmission or reception of airborne radio waves; esp. in aerial wire. See aerial n. 3. Now disused.From the early 20th cent., examples of aerial in this context can be interpreted as attributive uses of the noun, the explicit reference to a wire elevated in the air having been gradually obscured as the object itself became common.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > aerial
radiator1897
aerial wire1899
aerial1902
antenna1902
loop antenna1906
loop aerial1913
twin aerial1913
frame aerial1916
loop1922
beam aerial1926
cage aerial1926
Adcock1928
dipole1929
V antenna1932
beam antenna1935
rig1935
horn1936
whip1940
whip aerial1941
whip antenna1943
polyrod1945
unipole1945
slot aerial1946
slot antenna1946
dish1948
quad1951
V aerial1961
dish aerial1962
rectenna1964
omni-antenna1966
monopole1974
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > device receiving signal > antenna for radio waves
aerial wire1899
aerial1902
antenna1902
sectoral horn1939
rhombic1940
1899 G. Marconi in Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers 28 274 A vertical conductor W, which I will call the aërial conductor [It. che chiamerò aereo].
1899 G. Marconi in Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers 28 289 The aërial wire comes through the framework of a skylight.
1906 A. F. Collins Man. Wireless Telegr. 208 Aerial, a word much used instead of the longer term aerial wire.
1906 A. F. Collins Man. Wireless Telegr. 208 Aerial switch, a switch used to throw the aerial wire into connection with the spark-gap and out of connection with the detector, and vice versa.
1924 H. N. Stillman & E. Hausmann Swoope's Lessons Pract. Electr. (ed. 16) xxxi. 588 A general rule for the lengths of aerial wires..is to make them approximately 2/ 9 of the wavelength for transmitting stations.
1930 Times 25 Mar. 11/3 There appears to be no reason for supposing that an effective aerial array would need masts over 180 ft. in height.
II. Senses relating to air as a substance or element.† 8. In the classical theory of the elements: governed by or associated with the air; (hence) volatile, delicate. Obsolete.
6. Consisting or composed of air or gas; aeriform, gaseous; (in early use) associated with or having the nature of air, considered as one of the four elements (see element n. 1b). Now chiefly literary and historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [adjective] > of the nature or form of gas
aerial1551
gassy1744
aeriform1782
gaseous1785
aeriformed1790
gazous1794
gasiform1799
1551 T. Raynald tr. A. Vesalius Compend. Declar. Vertues Oile Imperial sig. Eii v Trueli neuer hitherto eni oile hathe ben..more..subtile and Aierial.
1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health i. f. 4v The grosser and excrementuous partes abyde in the bottome of the Lymbecke, then doe the Aereall vanysh into spirits, and the moysture..fall from the Gutter of the heade, and runne downe drop by droppe into a Receyuer.
1599 T. Hill Schoole of Skil ii. 109 Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius..are hot and moyst, sanguine, aereall, and masculine.
1602 W. Harrison Deaths Aduantage (ed. 2) 14 Elementary bodies..are not made of one element onely, but of all foure, yet haue their names of the praedominant element, as some are called earthly bodies, not watery, aeriall, or fiery bodies.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. ii. 118 The aërial particles may be in a new motion.
1674 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 9 102 Concluding upon the whole Matter, that the Aerial Parts of Niter are nothing else but the igneo-aerial Particles thereof, required to make a flame.
1731 J. Arbuthnot Ess. Nature Aliments 214 Vegetables abound more with aerial Particles, than animal Substances.
1782 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit (ed. 2) I. xx. 267 A soul..was first conceived to be an aerial, or an igneous substance.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xlii. 502 We are..assured, by direct observation, of the existence of some aerial substance in the neighbourhood of the sun.
1854 D. Brewster More Worlds ii. 21 The Earth is surrounded with an aerial envelope or atmosphere.
1884 Cent. Mag. Nov. 47/2 The aërial exhalations of the soil.
1962 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 17 200 It was thought that..when these aerial emanations were adversely influenced by the weather, epidemics broke out.
a1967 P. Lamantia Bed of Sphinxes (1997) 72 Aurora the cat of the morning has sent a message of aerial fire to the twelve-faced Aerolith.
2002 K. Albala Eating right in Renaissance iii. 99 The dangerously terrestrial, aqueous, igneous, and aerial substances can also be plotted on the edges of a third dimension.
7. Ethereal, insubstantial, immaterial; (also) unreal, imaginary; fanciful, other-worldly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [adjective]
flittingc1374
aerya1398
bottomlessa1413
hollowa1529
flittering1549
wanzing1571
aerial1581
slight1585
flit1590
windy1593
filmy1594
tenuous1597
unsubstantial1597
yeasty1598
thingless1599
airy1600
spare1602
spongy1603
insubstantial1607
baselessa1616
thina1616
insolid1618
insubstantiate1621
tenuious1634
bubble1635
thin-spun1638
subventaneous1646
unsubstanceda1658
whipped1673
aericala1678
huffy1678
blatherya1693
naughty1696
substanceless1784
vapoury1818
aeriform1827
airified1837
blow-away1858
non-substantial1858
unbased1860
evasive1881
stuffless1896
fabricless1905
lighter-than-air1909
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > [adjective] > only in imagination or unreal
imaginary?1510
imaginative1517
rational1530
fantastical1531
fantasied1561
airy1565
fancied1568
legendary1570
dreamed1597
fabled1606
ideal1611
fictive1612
affectual1614
insubstantiala1616
imaginatorya1618
supposititious1620
fictitious1621
utopian1624
utopic1624
notional1629
affective1633
fictiousa1644
notionary1646
figmental1655
suppositious1655
fict1677
visionary1725
metaphysical1728
unrealized1767
fancy1801
nice-spun1801
subjective1815
aerial1829
transcendental1835
cardboardy1863
mythical1870
cardboard1879
fictionary1882
figmentary1887
alternative1939
alternate1944
fantasized1964
ideate1966
fanciful-
fantastic-
1581 J. Hamilton Catholik Traictise f. 38 Ane aereall and phantasticall bodie.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God ix. xii. 349 Those creatures..being reasonable, passiue, æreall [L. corpore aeria] and immortall.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. xii. 53 The Latines..thought them Spirits, that is, thin aëreall bodies.
1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety ix. 258 When they came to be..cantond out into curious aerial notions.
1714 B. Mandeville Fable Bees i. 38 The Breath of Man, the Aerial Coyn of Praise.
1767 J. Collyer tr. J. J. Bodmer Noah I. ii. 97 The holy cherubs who guard with flaming sword this sacred mountain, are only aërial spirits plac'd there by expert magicians.
1777 H. L. Thrale Diary June in Thraliana (1942) I. 106 Johnson & Boswell diverted themselves with an aerial Scheme of settling the Literary Club at St Andrews.
1829 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. x. 388 She was surprised to see a gleamy figure, as of some aerial being.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity II. iv. vii. 148 The Church may draw fine and aërial distinctions.
1897 Times 12 Aug. 5 I find those institutions largely filled with Board school students who know nothing about the disturbing currents which agitate those aerial bodies the School Boards.
1908 E. Fowler Between Trent & Ancholme 299 I must look again for this aerial and charming spectre.
1962 Times 12 May 4 A ballet..in which the deus ex machina is an aerial spirit called Penicillin.
2000 Jrnl. Social Hist. (Nexis) 33 601 Lurking in the river Loue..was Mother Lusine, half-woman, half-serpent, who..could become an aerial spirit assuming the form of a flaming snake.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > lightness > [adjective] > extremely > light as air
flit1590
aerial1606
airya1631
aery-light1667
blow-away1858
lighter-than-air1909
1606 L. Bryskett Disc. Ciuill Life 54 For that tender age is rather sanguine and aeriall.
1759 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful (ed. 2) Introd. 2 This delicate and aerial faculty [sc. taste], which seems too volatile to endure even the chains of a definition.
1803 W. L. Bowles Picture 18 Aërial Claude shall paint, The gray fane peering o'er the summer woods.
III. Senses relating to transport by air, esp. to aircraft or aviation. (Some of these uses have been largely displaced by corresponding expressions with air as first element (see air n.1 Compounds 1b).)
9.
a. Designating a machine or craft used for locomotion or travel in the air, or a collection of such craft; flying, airborne.
ΚΠ
1698 T. Rymer Ess. Crit. & Curious Learning 11 Science..may be prosecuted to a great absurdity: As when Men carry on their Experiments to the Land of the Moon; contrive Aerial Engines for our passage thither.
1714 tr. N. de Montfaucon de Villars Count de Gabalis 84 The Sylphs..sometimes on board aerial Ships of a marvellous structure, sailing up and down, as it pleas'd the Zephirs to drive them.
1783 in W. H. Robinson's (Newcastle-on-Tyne) Catal. no. 14 (1926) 49 (aeronautical cartoon) The Montgolfier, A first Rate of the French Aerial Navy.
1784 Morning Herald 16 Feb. 3/4 The aerial navigators..mounted in the gallery of the balloon..the cords, which held the aerial machine, were cut.
1785 Glasgow Advertiser 28 Nov. in V. Lunardi Acct. Five Aerial Voy. Scotl. (1786) 68 On Wednesday last, Mr. Lunardi fulfilled his promise in ascending in his aerial Car from this city.
1809 G. Cayley in W. Nicholson Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Nov. 167 In such proportion may aerial vehicles be loaded with inactive matter.
1836 New Monthly Mag. Sept. 60 Mr. Southey's aërial boat.
1872 N.Y. Herald 15 July 10 The aeronauts..took the chances of their aerial transport drifting inward toward the shore.
1897 G. Baden-Powell in United Service Mag. Apr. 46 There are two distinct schools of inventors of aërial machines, the subject of navigable balloons being very different from that of flying machines proper.
1900 Science 12 798/1 What..will become of national frontiers when the aërial fleets can cross them with impunity?
1906 Sci. Amer. 21 Apr. 327/2 Compared with any other means of transportation, the aerial line seems miraculously safe.
1909 Flight 1 801/1 Baron v. Roenne gives some interesting particulars regarding a proposed aerial liner.
1910 Flight 2 96/2 An Aerial 'Bus for Pau... The airship is to carry eight passengers besides the crew.
1919 H. G. Anderson Med. & Surg. Aspects Aviation i. 4 The French conceived the idea of having aerial ambulances to convey quickly the wounded.
1958 Oxf. Mail 27 June 1/2 Two United States..aerial tankers landed at Brize Norton today after breaking the New York-London record.
1971 Technol. & Culture 12 465 In the latter half of the 19th century, a heavier-than-air machine might be variously referred to as an ‘aerial apparatus,’..‘aerial screw machine’..‘aeroplane,’..‘flying machine,’ [etc.]
1998 Eng. Hist. Rev. 113 151 A thick description of the tempestarii, alien visitors travelling in aerial ships from the land of Magonia, who could summon tempest and hailstorm.
2007 Cairns Post (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 Apr. 12 Sir Robert [Norman] was as comfortable chairing a boardroom meeting as he was flying an aerial ambulance through the dead of night to remote Outback Queensland.
b. Designating, relating to, or involved in travel through the air by means of aircraft. aerial navigation = navigation n. 2b, 4c.
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society > travel > air or space travel > [adjective] > of or relating to air travel
aerial1747
aeronautic1754
aerostatic1783
aerostatical1795
aeronautical1797
aeropleustic1827
1747 B. Martin Philosophia Britannica I. 37 Hence we see how impossible a Thing is that Aerial Navigation, which Franciscus de Lanis and other Miracle-Mongers have amused us with.
1784 Universal Mag. 74 18 A full account of the late wonderful Aërial Excursions.
1784 Universal Mag. 74 20/1 But they soon lost sight of our aerial navigators.
1804 G. Cayley Aeronaut. & Misc. Note-bk. (1933) 80 I am well convinced that Aerial Navigation will form a most prominent feature in the progress of civilization.
1825 in W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1826) I. 442 Mr. Graham, another aërial navigator, let off another balloon.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 222 Then the balloons went up, and the aërial travellers stood up.
1843 in S. Stubelius Balloon (1960) 56 The Project of Aërial Locomotion refuted... The aërial locomotive will then go up, and..not till then.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 9 Aërial Lighthouses, aerial beacons to guide aviators at night through the atmospheric ocean.
1920 Discovery Mar. 80/1 It is probable that kite balloons will be used as landmarks for the main aerial lines over the world.
1921 Flight 13 293/1 The aerial corridor for machines entering or leaving France..has now been enlarged.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 14/1 Aerial navigation, as distinct from piloting with the ground in view, developed tardily everywhere, though first in Britain.
2006 Whittier (California) Daily News (Nexis) 23 Sept. The [radio] tower is an obstruction to aerial navigation.
10.
a. Conducted by or from aircraft; carried out or achieved by means of aircraft; (also) relating to the air as a sphere of military operations.
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1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence x. 246 It is the first aërial battle—may we not say it is the last, too?
1885 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 6 Mar. The destruction of the British fleet and British seaports by aerial warfare is an absurdity.
1887 tr. J. Verne Clipper of Clouds xxii. 231 An aerial combat was beginning in which there were none of the chances of safety as in a sea-fight.
1897 Scribner's Mag. 22 618/1 The first aërial photograph taken in America..was on a wet plate from a balloon over the city of Boston in 1862.
1897 Scribner's Mag. 22 617/2 M. Nadar, of Paris, was one of the earliest experimenters in aërial photography.
1908 Times 13 July 10 b Such a sum is totally inadequate for any real good to be effected..and England's safety from aerial attack made anything like equal to her status on land or sea.
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air xi. §2 The second aerial power in Europe at this time was France.
1911 Daily Mail 23 Aug. 3/6 A contract has also been entered into..for conveyance of the aerial mail from London to Windsor.
1911 World of Stamps Oct. 6/1 The first aerial post..was that instituted in besieged Paris in 1870.
1912 Flight 4 471/1 On June 8th will take place, starting from London Aerodrome, Hendon, the first aerial Derby.
1914 R.F.C. Training Man. 11. 22 Aerial reconnaissance..may be considered under three heads: strategical, tactical and protective.
1915 Readers' Guide to Periodical Lit. 1910–14 III. 19/2 Aerial advertising company.
1915 Lancet 12 June 1249/2 The dangers of an aerial raid.
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 180 Throughout the Somme Push we were able to maintain that aerial superiority without which a great offensive cannot succeed.
1918 F. H. Colvin Aircraft Mech. Handbk. xxi. 311 School of Aerial Gunnery.
1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm 135 It is..conceded that there is no form of frightfulness so trying to the nerves as aerial bombing.
1921 H. E. Porter Aerial Observ. viii. 342 Aërial maps of forests have been made.
1921 Aeronautics 28 Apr. 304/1 The Government of India has issued a paper which deals with some experiments in aerial surveying which have been made.
1922 Flight 14 218/2 New ones [aeroplanes] which should bring down the rate of aerial freight to the value of those now charged in France for first-class railway passengers.
1937 C. Boff Boys' Bk. of Flying xvii. 190 Inevitably occasions arise in aerial warfare—as in a ‘dog-fight’, where several machines are milling together in whirling confusion.
1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 21 The aerial bombing of Germany reached a new pitch of intensity.
1946 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 73 193/2 The extensive areas of copper-deficient peat; land in New Zealand provided a suitable opportunity to try out aerial topdressing under circumstances reasonably favourable to success.
1978 Mil. Affairs 42 115/1 A force wholly devoted to strategic bombing and unconcerned for the aerial support needed by surface forces.
1990 S. Jamba Patriots (1992) xvii. 146 The guerrillas hated the marshlands for there was no camouflage against aerial attack.
2003 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 Apr. 40/1 Optimism was swept away..by the guns of August..aerial warfare, tanks and..machine guns.
b. Carried aboard an aircraft; (of a bomb, mine, torpedo, etc.) dropped or deployed from an aircraft.
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1896 Invention 6 June 356/2 Mr. Rich..has invented an aerial torpedo capable of dealing death and destruction to..an ordinary sized county.
1908 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. 30 681 If, then, a nation can submerge a mine for the destruction of ships from underneath the water, why can it not drop an aërial mine upon a ship from above?
1912 Times 8 Mar. 5 Aerial bombs at Zanzur.
1919 H. Shaw Text-bk. Aeronaut. xxii. 249 The modern aerial camera is a modified form of the original ‘press’ camera used in the early days of aerial work.
1919 N. J. Gill Aerial Arm vii. 136 Freedom..is blighted by the curse of aerial bombs.
1938 News Rev. 25 Aug. 24/1 Three weeks ago a Japanese aerial torpedo fell within 50 feet of him at Hankow, splashing him with mud.
1973 J. Quick Dict. Weapons 375/3 Rocket bomb, an aerial bomb equipped with a rocket to give it added velocity and penetrating power after being dropped from an aircraft.
2000 Ecology 81 589 A similar aircraft equipped with an aerial camera and Kodak aerocolor negative film was used.
2007 Tulsa World (Oklahoma) (Nexis) 17 Feb. a12 Soon after, an aerial torpedo struck his ship.
Compounds
aerial acid n. Chemistry (now historical) a gas in the air which produces an acid when dissolved in water, later identified with carbon dioxide.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > organic acids > [noun] > carbonic acid
aerial acid1686
fixable air1767
fixed air1767
1686 W. Harris tr. N. Lémery Course Chym. (ed. 2) 15 I conceive..that Salt-peter is form'd in Stones and Earths by the Acid spirit of the Air,..and that this Aerial acid entring insensibly into the body of Stones produces a Salt.
1705 C. Purshall Ess. Mechanism Macrocosm iv. 45 Niter, Common-Salt, &c. being put into Water, as Mr. Boyle observes, causes manifest Coldness in it, as the Aerial Acid does.
1772 J. Priestley in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 62 153 It is not improbable but that fixed air..may be of the nature of an acid..Mr. Bergman of Upsal..calls it the aërial acid.
1834 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 4 222 [The] springs..have a sharp acrescent taste and smell, and are highly impregnated with the aerial acid.
2004 Brit. Jrnl. Hist. Sci. 37 387 Because Walker does not give specific composition here, it is hard to tell what percentage of Calcareous Earth or Aerial Acid is needed to determine his conception of a Calcareous Stone.
aerial architecture n. †(a) now rare building ‘castles in the air’ (see castle n. 11); (b) Biology the structure of a plant above ground.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun] > daydreaming
dreaminga1400
musardryc1450
musardy1481
wool-gathering1608
woolling1705
castle-building1740
aerial architecture1750
Alnascharism1812
daydreaming1816
pipe dreaming1902
1750 Student 1 No. 6. 223 Castle-building, or the science of aerial architecture.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxvii. 257 With such triumphs of aërial architecture did Mrs. Nickleby occupy the whole evening.
1852 C. J. Douglas Heir of Ardennan I. xii. 284 Hers..was somewhat more vague than that of her famous predecessor in aërial architecture.
1990 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 17 410/2 Aerial architecture of perennial grasses could be classified into two general types.
2004 Plant Cell 16 2991/2 Transgenic CSN5A mutant plants display a severe disorganization in the whole aerial architecture.
aerial ladder n. an extendable ladder used by firefighters, now typically mounted on a fire engine.
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1873 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 14 June (headline) Aerial ladders. Testing a new apparatus for our fire department.
1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 25 Apr. 1/6 Five firemen fighting a fire..were injured late today when an 18-foot aerial ladder collapsed under their weight.
1992 M. Lloyd-Elliott City Ablaze ix. 189 There are three people requiring rescue at the back of the building on the fourth floor. I have no escape ladder, no hook ladder and no aerial ladder.
aerial perspective n. an optical effect, caused by atmospheric distortion, which renders distant objects hazy or discoloured, frequently with a blue tint; the simulation of this as a technique in the visual arts.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > optical distortions
refraction1698
suppression1702
aerial perspective1704
irradiation1834
double image1880
barrel distortion1889
pincushion distortion1892
Poggendorff illusion1898
Ponzo illusion1942
pincushioning1947
space myopia1962
pincushion1968
Müller-Lyer1972
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > perspective > [noun] > type of
aerial perspective1704
perspective projection1807
parallel perspective1854
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) Aerial Perspective is a Proportionable Diminution of the Teints and Colours of a Picture, when the Objects are supposed to be very remote.
1775 T. Malton Compleat Treat. Perspective ii. 104 I question if a skilful and ingenious Painter, in aireal Perspective, might not, simply, by the effect of Colour,..deceive the Eye, and give the appearance of a Descent.
1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 100 Aërial perspective is the expression of space, by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of colour, &c.
1955 College Art Jrnl. 15 100 The portrayal of the depth of space can be further enhanced by so-called aerial perspective. In the natural world about us distant objects are veiled in a blue haze.
2006 Vision Res. 46 93/1 The pictorial depth cues are typically listed as follows:... ‘relative size,’ ‘linear-perspective,’ ‘aerial perspective,’ ‘height in the visual field,’ and often many more.
aerial ping-pong n. colloquial (a) Australian the game of Australian National Football; (b) depreciative a game of rugby or football in which the ball is continually kicked into the air, rather than being passed.
ΚΠ
1947 West Austral. (Perth) 22 Apr. 5/3 In 1941 he..joined a unit which fostered rugby football. Renfrey did not..play ‘aerial ping-pong’, as the rugby exponents in the army termed the Australian game, until 1946.
1964 Footy Fan (Melbourne) II. viii. 23 Sydney folk are generally curious about this religion or mania which they term ‘aerial ping pong’ or ‘Aussie Rules’.
1992 Independent (Nexis) 1 Feb. 50 In a match which served large helpings of grinding rugby and aerial ping-pong, it was as well.
2000 P. Moore Full Montezuma (2001) xxiii. 397 As a New South Welshman untouched by the hysterical fervour induced by aerial ping-pong, it always amazes me how seriously Victorians take these kinds of kick-arounds.
aerial plankton n. Biology (a collective term for) those forms of organic life found drifting in the atmosphere, comprising minute insects, spiders, and mites, bacteria and other microscopic organisms, fungal spores, etc.; also called aeroplankton.
ΚΠ
1937 A. C. Hardy & P. S. Milne in Nature 20 Mar. 51 Considering the small size of the nets used, the number of insects collected indicates a very large population of ‘aerial plankton’ drifting across the sea.
1965 J. D. Carthy Behaviour of Arthropods vii. 96 Aphids may be swept up several thousand feet by air currents; they form an important part of aerial plankton.
1996 R. Dawkins Climbing Mount Improbable (1997) iv. 101 There is a so-called aerial plankton, consisting of millions of small insects and other creatures floating high in the air and spreading around the world.
aerial propeller n. a propeller on a boat or aircraft which generates thrust by movement of air; cf. aerial screw n.
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1884 Knowledge 6 230/1 The accompanying engraving represents an aërial propeller recently patented.
1910 Flight 2 867/1 A ‘skimmer’ with an aerial propeller.
1927 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 66 145 Fast boats with flat bottoms and aerial propellers.
1997 M. Liddle Recreation Ecol. ii. 21 Aerial-propeller-driven watercraft, such as the air boats used in the Florida Everglades.
aerial root n. a plant root that grows in the air; esp. a root of a climber that clings to its support, or a root of a mangrove that grows upwards to allow respiration; cf. air root n. at air n.1 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1832 J. Lindley Introd. Bot. 77 In Pandanus the spongioles of the aerial roots consist of numerous very thin exfoliations of the epidermis.
1874 R. Brown Man. Bot. ii. ii.136 The Lianas , or woody climbers..send out these aerial roots freely; many of which reach the ground, when they enlarge in diameter and form new trunk-like supports.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 843 Occasionally there is a stray ivy climbing on a crab tree in the hedge, climbing by its adhesive aërial roots which grow out of the stem.
2005 C. Tudge Secret Life Trees xi. 264 Most [mangrove trees] have at least some aerial roots, directly exposed to the air. Their surface is perforated with ‘lenticels,’ apertures that enable air to enter.
aerial screw n. now historical any of various kinds of propeller devised for the propulsion of heavier-than-air flying machines; cf. airscrew n. at air n.1 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1856 Brit. Patent 2993 [The] first impetus..is easily sustained and increased by turning the aërial screw.
1892 O. Chanute in Railroad & Engin. Jrnl. Mar. 133/2 A proposed aerial screw machine.
1952 Sci. Monthly May p. v. (caption) Leonardo..designed numerous mechanical devices... Among them was an aerial screw, with motive power to be supplied by a spring-driven mechanism.
aerial shot n. Cinematography and Photography a shot or footage taken from the air, esp. by a camera filming the action from an aircraft (now often a drone); (also) a photograph taken using such a method.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > aerial photograph
aerial shot1920
photomosaic1920
vertical1925
pinpoint1943
orthophotograph1955
orthophoto1965
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > shot > [noun] > types of
long shot1858
glass shot1908
close-up1913
aerial shot1920
angle shot1922
medium shot1925
far-away1926
travelling shot1927
zoom1930
zoom shot1930
process shot1931
close-medium shot1933
medium close-up1933
reverse angle1933
reverse shot1934
three-shot1934
tilt shot1934
medium-close shot1937
reaction shot1937
tracking shot1940
pan shot1941
stock shot1941
Dutch angle1947
cheat shot1948
establishing shot1948
master-scene1948
trucking shot1948
two-shot1949
bridging shot1951
body shot1952
library shot1953
master shot1953
mid shot1953
MS1953
pullback1957
MCU1959
noddy1982
arc shot1989
pop shot1993
1920 Daily Silver Belt (Miami, Arizona) 14 Aug. 8/2 Director David Kirkland was anxious to obtain a long aerial shot of this scene, but there appeared to be no elevation from which it could be taken.
1929 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 28 Apr. (Mag.) 14/3 This aerial shot of the city of Auburn has the State Prison stretching from the center to the right.
1962 Amer. Cinematographer May 320/3 The helicopter..was used both as a participant in the action and as a mobile camera mount for impressive aerial shots of such proceedings as the tailing by an FBI car.
2002 D. Campbell Techn. Film & TV for Nontechn. People 3 If the location of the film is significant, it may open with an aerial shot, like that of Groundhog Day, which begins with the actors leaving Philadelphia.
aerial skiing n. the execution of aerial acrobatic manoeuvres on skis, now esp. as a competitive event in freestyle skiing.
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1968 Chicago Tribune 20 Dec. iii. 9/1 The new challenge is aerial skiing—somersaults, flips, twists, lay-outs, and even back dives—all performed on skis.
1974 Daily Herald (Chicago) 25 Jan. iv. 5/2 It is Illinois' first major Hot Dog Contest, featuring freestyle, ballet, and aerial skiing.
2004 Internat. Gymnast May 21/3 Trudy..has competed on the World Cup circuit for aerial skiing.
aerial telescope n. a type of tubeless refracting telescope with a very long focal length, typically consisting of a swivelling objective lens mounted on a tall pole or mast, connected to an eyepiece by a long string or rod; now historical.
ΚΠ
1684 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 14 668 (heading) Christiani Hugenii Astroscopia compendiaria, Tubi optici molimine liberata. Or the description of an Aerial Telescope.
1727 C. Leadbetter Astron. 14 Mr. Hugens invented a Method to use Glasses in the Night without a Tube; and this he calls an Aerial Telescope.
1825 Ann. Philos. New Ser. 10 414 If the old aerial telescope were more generally applied, not only the spots of Venus, but other objects, might be better seen than with other instruments.
1924 Sci. Monthly Aug. 124 Professor John Winthrop, of Harvard, observed a transit of Mercury, April 27, 1740, with a 24-foot aerial telescope.
2013 P. G. Abel Visual Lunar & Planetary Astron. vi. 111 Astronomy became his [sc. Hevelius'] passion, and at some point in the 1640s he established the Sternberg Observatory, which was equipped with that cumbersome telescope of the era—the aerial telescope.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1649
adj.?1545