helicopter

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An aircraft with spinning blades on top that let it fly straight up, hover, and land without a runway.

   We flew over the city in a helicopter.

2. 2
   verb

   To carry someone or something by helicopter.

   The injured climbers were helicoptered to the nearest hospital.

Borrowed from French hélicoptère, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopteron. By surface analysis, helico- + -pter. The dragonfly sense is from a dragonfly's ability to hover and fly in any direction, like the flying machine.

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