helicopter

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 

View all »
Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An aircraft that derives its lift from blades that rotate about an approximately vertical central axis.
  2. intransitive and transitive verb To go or transport by helicopter.
  3. Word History
    The two Greek words that are the origin of helicopter may be particularly hard for English speakers to spot. Helicopter was borrowed from the French word hélicoptère, a word constructed from Greek heliko- and pteron, "wing.” Heliko-, the combining form of helix, "spiral,” has given us helico-, which can be joined with other words and word forms to create new words. The consonant cluster pt in pteron begins many Greek words but relatively few English words. English speakers unfamiliar with Greek are thus not likely to recognize the word's elements as helico-pter; many analyze the word into the elements heli-copter, as is shown by the clipped form copter.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • They waved till the helicopter was a speck in the sky and then went indoors. —  The Rat-A-Tat Mystery
  • Even as it fizzled and sputtered its acrid and nostril-wrinkling way to extinction the helicopter was almost directly overhead. —  When Eight Bells Toll
  • Bright grabbed a few items on his way out the door and had another agent drive him to the Coast Guard yard, where a helicopter was already waiting. —  Clear and Present Danger
  • Alekseyev noted the fear and anger in the words, and reminded himself that the captain flying his helicopter was already twice a Hero of the Soviet Union for his daring over the battlefield. —  Red Storm Rising
  • Then, abruptly, when the helicopter was almost directly overhead, it side-slipped sharply to its left, sank down over the castle courtyard, hovered for a few moments and slowly descended. —  Where Eagles Dare
 

Tags

helicopter hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Helicopter has been looked up 178 times, favorited 0 times, listed 9 times, and commented on 0 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French hélicoptère : Greek helix, helik-, spiral; see helix + Greek pteron, wing; see -pter.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Greek ε=λιξ, (ελικ-), helix, + πτερόν, wing.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/hɛlɪˈkɑptər/
by American Heritage
Hear a sound »

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

Recent Lookups

crate · emotivism · Freeze · Churn · Mosher's

Recent Favorites

TelePalmter · Espoo · stick-to-it-iveness · supine · doxastic

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious