balloonacy

English

Etymology

Blend of balloon +‎ lunacy

Noun

balloonacy (uncountable)

  1. (nonce word) An excessive mania for hot-air balloons.
    • 1864, 20 February, The Daily Telegraph
      We live in an age of balloonacy. Only a few weeks ago I sent you the account of M. Nadar and his 'Géant,” “the greatest balloon in the world;” now M. Eugène Godard has built an 'Aigle,' by the side of which the 'Giant' is a mere dwarf.
    • 1865, Charles Robert Leslie, ‎Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (page 479)
      Horace Walpole was severe on this new whimsy of balloonacy, which was only chilled, not extinguished, by De Rosière's catastrophe.
    • 1975, Machine Design (volume 47, issues 24-29, page 20)
      In the milder case of "balloonacy" the enthusiast proposes essentially a modernized Hindenburg (8 million cu ft). In the most virulent form of the disease, however, the victim calls for fleets of 100 million cu ft helium whales.
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