Wiktionary

balloonacy

English

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Etymology

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Blend of balloon +‎ lunacy.[1]

Noun

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balloonacy (uncountable)

  1. (nonce word) An excessive mania for hot-air balloons.
    • 1864 February 20, The Daily Telegraph:
      We live in an age of balloonacy. Only a few weeks ago I sent you the account of M. Nadar and his 'Géant,” “the greatest balloon in the world;” now M. Eugène Godard has built an 'Aigle,' by the side of which the 'Giant' is a mere dwarf.
    • 1865, Charles Robert Leslie, Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, page 479:
      Horace Walpole was severe on this new whimsy of balloonacy, which was only chilled, not extinguished, by De Rosière's catastrophe.
    • 1975, Machine Design, volume 47, numbers 24-29, page 20:
      In the milder case of "balloonacy" the enthusiast proposes essentially a modernized Hindenburg (8 million cu ft). In the most virulent form of the disease, however, the victim calls for fleets of 100 million cu ft helium whales.

References

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  1. ^ Olga Kornienko, Grinin L, Ilyin I, Herrmann P, Korotayev A (2016) “Social and Economic Background of Blending”, in Globalistics and Globalization Studies: Global Transformations and Global Future‎[1], Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House, →ISBN, pages 220–225
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