aerial

comparative more aerial · superlative most aerial · alternative dated aërial · alternative ærial

1. Living or taking place in the air.First known use 16th c.

   The seabirds put on an astonishing aerial display.

2. archaicliteraryMade up of air or gas; gaseous.First known use 16th c.

   A soul […] was first conceived to be an aerial, or an igneous substance, which animates the body during life, and makes its escape at death […].

   1782, Joseph Priestley, Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit, section I

3. Positioned high up; elevated.First known use 16th c.

   The aerial photographs clearly showed the damage caused by the storm.

4. Ethereal, insubstantial.First known use 16th c.

   “What is your pleasure now?” said Maggie, smiling languidly as she rose from her chair and looked down on her slight, aerial cousin, whose figure was quite subordinate to her faultless drapery of silk and crape.

   1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons

   1 more example

   the great Recompence in view, for which the most exalted Minds have with so much Alacrity, sacrifis'd their Quiet, Health, sensual Pleasures, and every inch of themselves, has never been any thing else but the Breath of Man, the Aerial Coyn of Praise.

   1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees

5. Imaginary.
6. Pertaining to the air or atmosphere; atmospheric.First known use 17th c.
7. aeronauticsPertaining to a vehicle which travels through the air; airborne; relating to or conducted by means of aircraft.First known use 17th c.

   aerial photography

   2 more examples

   an aerial view of the landscape

   In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

   2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6

8. biologyAbove the ground.

plural aerials · alternative dated aërial · alternative ærial

1. UKA rod, wire, or other structure for receiving or transmitting radio, television signals etc.

   Synonyms: antenna

2. A move, as in dancing or skateboarding, involving one or both feet leaving the ground.

   In their dancing, clubbers were flamboyant. They experimented with new dance steps and improvisations, including risky maneuvers and aerials in which women were flipped into the air.

   2002, Joseph A. Kotarba, John M. Johnson, Postmodern Existential Sociology, page 78

   Synonyms: air step, acrobatic

3. gymnasticsA move that involves performing a full rotation while in the air, without touching any equipment such as a balance beam or panel mat with one's hands.
4. artsAn aerial photograph.

   Hemment is on record as being the first person to film aerials of wildlife – he filmed a flock of wild ducks early in 1911, possibly on Rainey's Louisiana property.

   2010, Jean Hartley, Africa's Big Five and Other Wildlife Filmmakers

5. computer graphicsA highly-contrasting visual artifact in the form of a band or ring.

   Lanczos3 for sharp results. May produce aerials. — Krita 5.2.2