BALLOON', noun

1. In general, any spherical hollow body.

2. In chimistry, a round vessel with a short neck, to receive whatever is distilled; a glass receiver of a spherical form.

3. In architecture, a ball or globe, on the top of a pillar.

4. In fireworks, a ball of pasteboard, or kind of bomb, stuffed with combustibles, to be played off, when fired, either in the air, or in water, which, bursting like a bomb, exhibits sparks of fire like stars.

5. A game, somewhat resembling tennis, played in an open field, with a large ball of leather, inflated with wind.

6. A bag or hollow vessel, made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere, called for distinction, an air-balloon.

7. In France, a quantity of paper, containing 24 reams. [See Bale.]

8. In France, balloon ballon or ballot, a quantity of glass plates; of white glass, 25 bundles of six plates each; of colored glass, 12 1-2 bundles of three plates each.

BALLOON'