Meanings
- nonce worduncountableAn excessive mania for hot-air balloons.
Horace Walpole was severe on this new whimsy of balloonacy, which was only chilled, not extinguished, by De Rosière's catastrophe.
1865, Charles Robert Leslie, Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, page 4792 more examples
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.
1864 February 20, The Daily TelegraphIn 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.
1975, Machine Design, volume 47, numbers 24-29, page 20
Origin
Cite this entry
balloonacy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balloonacy
“balloonacy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balloonacy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “balloonacy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balloonacy.
Source: balloonacy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.