barrage balloon

noun

: a small captive balloon used to support wires or nets as protection against air attacks

Examples of barrage balloon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Normandy’s Negroes, serving in mostly segregated units, worked under fire instead as stevedores and as antiaircraft men who ran up barrage balloons to frustrate enemy air strikes at the beaches. Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 5 June 2019 Those were barrage balloons, floating aloft and anchored by cables, so that enemy planes had to fly over them, making their bombing more difficult. Erik Lacitis, The Seattle Times, 2 June 2019 The barrage balloons are going up all along the Corniche. Andrew Liptak, The Verge, 31 Mar. 2018 There’s no combat action in Mr. Boorman’s film, only such apparitions as barrage balloons floating in the sky and a Luftwaffe pilot parachuting into a suburban garden. Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 15 Mar. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barrage balloon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of barrage balloon was in 1918

Dictionary Entries Near barrage balloon

Cite this Entry

“Barrage balloon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrage%20balloon. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

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