gondola

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Nautical A lightweight narrow barge with ends that curve up into a point and often a small cabin in the middle, propelled with a single oar from the stern and used on the canals of Venice.
2. n. Nautical A flatbottom riverboat.
3. n. A gondola car.
4. n. A basket, enclosure, or instrument sling suspended from and carried aloft by a balloon.
5. n. An enclosed structure suspended from a cable, used for conveying passengers, as to and from a ski slope.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A flat-bottomed boat, very long and narrow, formerly almost the exclusive means of conveyance in Venice, on the canals, but now superseded in part on the chief canals by small omnibus-steamers. A gondola of middle size is about 30 feet long and 5 feet broad, terminating at each end in a sharp elevated point or peak, and is usually propelled by a single rower. (See gondolier.) Toward the center there is in some a curtained cabin for the passengers. Gondolas are now always black throughout, in consequence of an old law against extravagance in ornamentation.
2. n. A lighter or large flat-bottomed boat on the rivers of New England. In this use also gondelo, gundelo.
3. n. A small boat used to transport the passengers or crew of a ship to and from the shore.
4. n. On a railroad, a gondola car. See below.
5. n. A vase or bowl of decorative character having a wide mouth, and usually of greater breadth than height: a term applied especially to carved vessels in crystal, agate, and similar materials.
6. n. [capitalized] [NL.] In conchology, a genus of gastropods: same as Cymbium, 1. Fèrussac;, 1821
7. n. A coach of unusual size with a boat-shaped bottom and seats for eight or more persons.

Wiktionary

1. n. A small long, narrow boat with a high prow and stern, propelled with a single oar, especially in Venice.
2. n. A hanging platform or car for transporting people or cargo
3. n. An enclosed car attached to a cable mechanically lifted up the side of a mountain; an enclosed ski lift; a cable car.
4. n. The car or basket of a hot-air balloon, airship, zeppelin, etc.
5. n. The hanging cart in which a glass-cleaning worker stands to clean exterior glass on tall buildings.
6. n. That part of a transporter bridge that carries passengers, vehicles, along the length of the bridge span.
7. n. A type of open railway car with low sides, used to carry heavy freight such as crushed rock or steel.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A long, narrow boat with a high prow and stern, used in the canals of Venice. A gondola is usually propelled by one or two oarsmen who stand facing the prow, or by poling. A gondola for passengers has a small open cabin amidships, for their protection against the sun or rain. A sumptuary law of Venice required that gondolas should be painted black, and they are customarily so painted now.
2. n. A flat-bottomed boat for freight.
3. n. A long platform car, either having no sides or with very low sides, used on railroads.
4. n. An elongated car under a dirigible.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. long narrow flat-bottomed boat propelled by sculling; traditionally used on canals of Venice
2. n. the compartment that is suspended from an airship and that carries personnel and the cargo and the power plant
3. n. a low flat-bottomed freight car with fixed sides but no roof