Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The aviation branch of a country's armed forces, such as the US Air Force.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A branch of the military mainly devoted to air warfare, as opposed to (land) army and navy
  • noun a unit in the U.S. Air Force larger than a division but smaller than a command

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the airborne branch of a country's armed forces
  • noun the airforce of the United States of America; the agency that defends the United States through control and exploitation of air and space

Etymologies

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Examples

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Comments

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  • This phrase would seem, on a literal level, to be a contradiction in terms. (Or at least to be about wind, though I would argue "air" sounds still...) Yet, what else would you call a force that can fly?

    I've always loved this phrase.

    October 26, 2007

  • Superman? ;-)

    October 26, 2007

  • Uhhh... Well, he's not a force so much as, you know... a super... man...

    I wonder if he ever says "booyah."

    October 26, 2007

  • Luftwaffe is from luft, meaning air, and waffe, meaning force. Luftstreitkräfte is roughly air strike force, from my brief perusal of an English/German dictionary.

    October 26, 2007

  • I believe that Waffe means "weapon". Kraft is the German for "force".

    October 26, 2007