gondola

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long, narrow, flat-bottomed Venetian boat propelled and steered with a single oar

   The gondola moved quietly through the narrow Venetian canal.

2. 2
   noun

   an enclosed car suspended from a cable, airship, balloon, or similar structure

   The cable-car gondola carried six passengers above the valley.

3. 3
   noun

   a low open railway freight car with fixed sides and no roof

   The steel coils were secured inside an open gondola.

Borrowed from Italian gondola, probably through the Venetian form gondola. Its deeper origin is uncertain. The name first denoted the characteristic Venetian boat and was later transferred by resemblance to suspended passenger cars and open railway wagons.

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