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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A rigid airship having a long cylindrical body supported by internal gas cells.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A type of large German dirigible airship of the early 20th century; designed to carry passengers or bombs

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A dirigible balloon of the rigid type, consisting of a cylindrical trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas cells, and provided with means of propulsion and control. It was first successfully used by Ferdinand Count von Zeppelin.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a large rigid dirigible designed to carry passengers or bombs
  2. n. German inventor who designed and built the first rigid motorized dirigible (1838-1917)

Etymologies

  1. After Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘zeppelin’.

Comments

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  • chained_bear Heard a rather lowbrow joke (it's a bit old, but I'd forgotten about it):

    Q: What's the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenburg?
    A: One is a Nazi gasbag, and the other is a Zeppelin. Jul 30, 2009

  • chr0matica I can never hear this word without thinking of Led Zeppelin... Stairway to Heaven, anyone? Jan 9, 2009

  • chained_bear Wouldn't this world be kind of cool? Dec 24, 2008

  • reesetee What a Zeppelin-head. :-) Feb 1, 2007

  • chained_bear "Zeppelin" is not a synonym for "airship" or "dirigible" though many people use it that way. Zeppelin is a trade name and as such should always be capitalized, and only used to refer to a rigid airship produced by the Zeppelin company. It's like "Kleenex" or "Rollerblade."

    Not all airships are dirigibles, either. The difference is that an airship is a "ballon dirigible," or "steerable balloon," while hot-air balloons--though airships--are not steerable.

    Dirigibles include both rigid airships and blimps. Rigid airships contain a frame that holds the aircraft's shape regardless of whether the gas cells are filled with gas. A blimp is a large, sturdy (and steerable) balloon, in that it does not have a rigid frame underneath its outer covering (known as the envelope). Feb 1, 2007

‘zeppelin’ has been looked up 1747 times, added to 36 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 21.