Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rigid airship having a long cylindrical body supported by internal gas cells.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of large
German dirigible airship of the early 20th century designed to carrypassengers orbombs .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a large rigid dirigible designed to carry passengers or bombs
- noun German inventor who designed and built the first rigid motorized dirigible (1838-1917)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And now the zeppelin is making its way up the mountain to the dwarven hold of Steelhome.
D&D nathreee 2008
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As a boy, I remember the zeppelins flying over Scarborough, and I'd shout out to my mom, "schauen Sie Mamma, es ist ein zeppelin!"
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I know, I know, but the word zeppelin has more umpf to it than does blimp.
A zeppelin above my house AYDIN 2007
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Perhaps a Prius doesn’t sound so bad, when a zeppelin is the alternative.
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Perhaps a Prius doesn’t sound so bad, when a zeppelin is the alternative.
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Perhaps a Prius doesn’t sound so bad, when a zeppelin is the alternative.
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The zeppelin is the size of how many football fields?
Everything Has Been Arranged (or, Chamomile Tea at Ten Thousand Feet) Marshall Moore 2011
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The zeppelin is the size of how many football fields?
Everything Has Been Arranged (or, Chamomile Tea at Ten Thousand Feet) Marshall Moore 2011
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But the zeppelin was the biggest thing that ever moved made by man.
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But the zeppelin was the biggest thing that ever moved made by man.
chained_bear commented on the word zeppelin
"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).
February 1, 2007
reesetee commented on the word zeppelin
What a Zeppelin-head. :-)
February 2, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word zeppelin
Wouldn't this world be kind of cool?
December 24, 2008
chr0matica commented on the word zeppelin
I can never hear this word without thinking of Led Zeppelin... Stairway to Heaven, anyone?
January 9, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word zeppelin
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.
July 30, 2009