blimp
/blɪmp
/noun informal
1 (also Colonel Blimp) British A pompous, reactionary type of person: you’ll still find Colonel Blimps at local party level...
- Those who read Mr Cooper's article will discover that he is anything but a Colonel Blimp and that he does not have much in common with historical liberal imperialism either.
- It is sad to find the editor of one of the few outlets in favour of radical change adopting the attitude, and language, of a Colonel Blimp.
- It's depressingly like the cartoon of a Colonel Blimp character sitting in an armchair beneath the huge head of a white rhino, explaining that he ‘thought he'd better bag one fast in case this conservation business doesn't work out.’
2A small airship or barrage balloon.Aerostats are packed to their fins with special radar payloads that would have mere hot air balloons, airships or blimps hissing with envy....
- For unmanned aerial vehicles, though, inflatable wings are just the ticket, figures ILC Dover, a leading supplier of blimps and airships.
- However, western detectives flatly dismissed reports that Government's airship, the blimp, and other sophisticated radar technology were responsible for the seizure.
2.1North American A fat person: I could work out four hours a day and still end up a blimp...
- Remember the Poker Champion pictures where he was a real blimp? He looks great.
- I was skinny just a year ago, but at the rate I'm going I'll be a real blimp soon!
- Oh my God, hey, just jump back and make a little way for the blimp in the blue hat.
3A soundproof cover for a cine camera.If your camera is disturbing the peace in court, on the golf course or any other venue where silence is golden, photojournalist Sam Cranston's US$125 Camera Muzzle sound blimp for pro film and digital SLR cameras may be for you....
- The Nikon CS-13 Blimp Case is a black imitation leather case made to hold a Nikon camera with a motor drive and a lens attached.
- I've heard a rumor that at some point a blimp was made for this camera, but I've had no luck finding one.
Derivatives
blimpish
/ adjective ...- But all the hot air served was to point up the hyper-inflation football elite's smug self-importance and, at the same time, demonstrate what a blimpish dirigible of bluster FIFA's chief Sepp Blatter truly is.
- But for sheer blimpish offensiveness nothing compares with his remarks about a father who forgave the killers of his daughter who was murdered during the Enniskillen Cenotaph bombing.
- Over the past decade, however, under the blimpish leadership of Brian McMaster, the visual arts have been progressively sidelined.
Origin
First World War (in sense 2): of uncertain origin. sense 1 derives from the character invented by cartoonist David Low, used in anti-German or anti-government drawings before and during the Second World War.