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aerial - What does it mean?

Definition of 'aerial'

English

(wikipedia)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Living or taking place in the air.
  • * 1782 , (Joseph Priestley), Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit , I:
    • A soul [...] was first conceived to be an aerial , or an igneous substance, which animates the body during life, and makes its escape at death [...].
  • Positioned high up; elevated.
  • Ethereal, insubstantial; imaginary.
  • * 1714 , (Bernard Mandeville), The Fable of the Bees :
    • the great Recompence in view, for which the most exalted Minds have with so much Alacrity, sacrifis'd their Quiet, Health, sensual Pleasures, and every inch of themselves, has never been any thing else but the Breath of Man, the Aerial Coyn of Praise.
  • Pertaining to the air or atmosphere; atmospheric.
  • Pertaining to a vehicle which travels through the air; airborne; relating to or conducted by means of aircraft.
  • * {{quote-magazine|date=2013-06-07|author= Ed Pilkington
    • |volume=188|issue=26|page=6|magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) |title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told |passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A rod, wire, or other structure for receiving or transmitting radio, television signals etc.
  • A move, as in dancing or skateboarding, involving one or both feet leaving the ground.
  • * 2002 , Joseph A. Kotarba, John M. Johnson, Postmodern Existential Sociology (page 78)
    • In their dancing, clubbers were flamboyant. They experimented with new dance steps and improvisations, including risky maneuvers and aerials in which women were flipped into the air.
  • (photography) aerial photography
  • * 2010 , Jean Hartley, Africa's Big Five and Other Wildlife Filmmakers
    • Hemment is on record as being the first person to film aerials of wildlife – he filmed a flock of wild ducks early in 1911, possibly on Rainey's Louisiana property.

    Usage notes

    Some make a distinction between an (antenna) and an (term), with the former used to indicate a rigid structure, and the latter consisting of a wire strung in the air. For those who do not make a distinction, (antenna) is more commonly used in the United States and (term) is more commonly used in the United Kingdom.

    Synonyms

    * (device for receiving or transmitting) antenna

    Derived terms

    (top2) * aerial cableway * aerial camera * aerial ladder * aerial photograph * aerial photography (mid2) * aerial ping pong * aerial railway * aerial ropeway * aerial runway * aerial survey * aerial surveying (bottom)

    Anagrams

    *

    Similar to 'aerial'

    aural, areal, airwall, ariel, aroyl, awhirl