ballon d'essai
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French ballon d’essai.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ballon d'essai (plural ballons d'essai)
- A policy put forward to test reactions; something designed to test the waters, an experimental measure. [from 19th c.]
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 193:
- James II may even have planned the reintroduction of the ceremony, for in his reign the old order of service was resurrected and issued in print, as a ballon d'essai, though the Revolution prevented matters being taken any further.
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ballon d’essai m (plural ballons d’essai)