ballon d'essain.
/ˌbalɒ̃ dɛˈseɪ/, U.S. /bɑˌlɔn ˌdɛˈseɪ/ A project or piece of policy put forward to test the feeling or attitude of a person or body of people; an experimental measure or proposal, a ‘feeler’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > an experiment > proposal or project to test attitudes
feeler1823
ballon d'essai1858
to fly a kite1902
trial balloon1939
1858 Times 26 Apr. 10/3 The dismissal of the Director..might have been a hasty act of indiscretion, or even a ballon d'essai, to find out which way the popular wind blew.
1859 Times 27 May 8/3 Ballons d'essai, thrown up to ascertain the currents of public opinion.
1883 Standard 24 Jan. 5 The contents [of the letter] would make it appear a sort of ballon d'essai, designed to throw light on the prospects of an Orleanist Restoration in France.
1905 Mrs. H. Ward Marriage of William Ashe xiii. 259 In the early morning she had sent her note to Kitty—a ballon d'essai, despatched in a horror of great fear.
1928 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. 11/5 The rumours about Mlle. Lenglen's future plans have recently died down. This one may be in the nature of a ballon d'essai.
1942 Mind 51 71 A good deal of Hume's theory of belief is rather a ballon d'essai than meant altogether seriously.
1997 J. Haslam in N. Ferguson Virtual Hist. (1998) vii. 363 The launching of such a controversial ballon d'essai naturally had its impact in Moscow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1858