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nacelle

gondola, nacelle (balloon or airship basket)

noun nah-SEL Rare
Travel & Places Transportation

Origin: Diminutive of Old French 'nace' (boat), from Latin 'navicula'.

Also means

small boat

Usage Note

Nacelle most commonly refers to the basket suspended beneath a hot-air balloon or airship, but in engineering it also denotes the streamlined housing of an aircraft engine or wind turbine. The historical sense of a small rowing boat survives in poetry.

Examples

"Les passagers montèrent dans la nacelle du ballon."

Natural Translation

The passengers climbed into the balloon's gondola.

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