See Also: Aerial(medicine)
aerial(dictionary)
Aerial - Gymnastics(gambling)
aerial mycelium(medicine)
aerial sickness(medicine)
nitro-aerial(dictionary)
aerial perspective(encyclopedia)
aerial 1, adjective(dictionary)
aerial 2, noun(dictionary)

aerial (iou)



aerial adjective & noun. L16.
[from Latin aerius from Greek aerios, from aer air: see -AL1.]
A. adjective.
1. Thin as air, ethereal; immaterial, imaginary. L16.
2. Light as air, airy. E17.
3. Of, pertaining to, or produced in the air; atmospheric. E17.
aerial perspective: in which distant objects are shown as fainter.
4. Existing, moving, or happening in the air. E17.
aerial ping-pong Austral. slang Australian Rules football. aerial PLANKTON.
A. Sillitoe Full clouds drifting like an aerial continent of milk-white mountains.
b. Growing above ground (opp. subterranean). M19.
Anthony Huxley Aerial roots as in ivy are produced on the dark side of the stem.
c. By or from aircraft etc. L19.
aerial top-dressing NZ crop-dusting. aerial torpedo: see TORPEDO noun 2b.
G. B. Shaw The British refusal to bar aerial bombardment..made the air battles of the world war lawful.
5. Placed at an airy height, elevated (lit. & fig.). E17.
aerial cableway, aerial railway, aerial ropeway a system of overhead cables from which cars or containers are suspended for transport, usu. driven electrically.
6. Composed of air; gaseous. M17.
B. noun. A metal wire, rod, or other structure used to transmit or receive radio waves. Cf. ANTENNA 4. E20.
? Formerly, & still sometimes in poetry where the metre calls for 4 syllables, with pronunc. .
aerialist noun (a) rare a stylite; (b) a high-wire or trapeze artist: M19.
aerially adverb E19.