balloon

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bal·loon / bəˈloōn/ • n. 1. a brightly colored rubber sac inflated with air and then sealed at the neck, used as a children's toy or a decoration: the room was festooned with balloons and streamers | fig. his derision pricked the fragile balloon of her vanity. ∎  a round or pear-shaped outline in which the words or thoughts of characters in a comic strip or cartoon are written: a balloon reading “Ka-Pow!”2. a large bag filled with hot air or gas to make it rise in the air, typically carrying a basket for passengers: a hot-air balloon.• v. [intr.] 1. swell out in a spherical shape; billow: the trousers ballooned out below his waist ∎  (of an amount of money) increase rapidly: the company's debt has ballooned in the last five years | [as adj.] (ballooning) ballooning government spending. ∎  swell dramatically in size or number: the public payroll ballooned from about 27,000 people to about 66,000 people ∎  (of a person) increase rapidly and dramatically in weight: I had ballooned on the school's starchy diet.2. travel by hot-air balloon: he is famous for ballooning across oceans.• adj. resembling a balloon; puffed: a flouncy balloon curtain.ORIGIN: late 16th cent. (originally denoting a game played with a large inflated leather ball): from French ballon or Italian ballone ‘large ball.’

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