parachute

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UK/ˈpæɹəʃuːt/US/ˈpæɹəʃut//ˈpɛɹəʃut/Scotland/ˈpaɹəʃʉt/

noun

A device, generally constructed from fabric, that is designed to employ air resistance to control the fall of an object or person, causing them to float instead of falling.

Less commonScrabble 16

Meanings

parachute1

nounparachute (plural parachutes)

plural parachutes

  1. aeronauticsA device, generally constructed from fabric, that is designed to employ air resistance to control the fall of an object or person, causing them to float instead of falling.
  2. biologyA web or fold of skin extending between the legs of gliding mammals, such as the flying squirrel and colugo.
  3. Any of various mushrooms with broad, domed caps.
  4. BDSMA small collar which fastens around the scrotum and from which weights can be hung.

    Parachutes are usually made of leather and can be purchased through most fetish catalogs or stores catering to the BDSM scene.

    2012, Peggy Sue, Guide to Female Supremacy, London: Gynarchy International Editions / Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 75
    3 more examples

    Under that there are dildos and butt-plugs arranged by size on two shelves: two fat butt-plugs and four small ones, four two-headed dildos, eight ordinary dildos. Under that, the little material hanging on nails: five different pairs of nipple clamps, some clothespins, a parachute for the balls, a dog collar, two hoods, one in leather, one in latex, six cockrings, in steel or leather, regular or with built-in ball-squeezers, two dick sheaths […]

    1998, Guillaume Dustan, translated by Brad Rumph, In My Room, London: Serpent’s Tail, →ISBN, page 53

    She came near and grabbed his balls tightly with her left hand, tugging them downward while applying a parachute harness with her right hand. […] His balls stretched downward under the delicious weight.

    2016, John Caesar, Wife Scorned!, Lulu.com, →ISBN

    A parachute is a small collar, usually made from leather, which fastens around the scrotum, and from which weights can be hung.

    2022, Mohamed A. Baky Fahmy, “Scrotum in Human Conscience”, in Mohamed A. Baky Fahmy, editor, Normal and Abnormal Scrotum, Cham, Switzerland: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 22
  5. A large sheet of fabric used in children's physical education, often colorful, with handles allowing many people to control its motion.
verbparachute (third-person singular simple present parachutes, present participle parachuting, simple past and past participle parachuted)

present singular third person parachutes · participle present parachuting · participle past parachuted · past parachuted

  1. intransitiveTo jump, fall, descend, etc. using such a device.
    1 more example

    Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

    2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
  2. transitiveTo introduce into a place using such a device.

    The soldiers were parachuted behind enemy lines.

  3. transitiveTo place (somebody) in an organisation in a position of authority without their having previous experience there; used with in or into.
  4. slangTo wrap illicit drugs in a covering before swallowing them, so that they will be released for absorption when the covering dissolves within the body.

    Synonyms: bomb

Parachute2

proper noun
  1. A town in Garfield County, Colorado, United States, named after Parachute Creek; it was renamed Grand Valley in 1908, regaining its original name in the 1980s.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo wrap illicit drugs in a covering before swallowing them, so that they will be released for absorption when the covering dissolves within the body.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounrescue equipment consisting of a device that fills with air and retards your fall

Similar
Broader
rescue equipment

verbjump from an airplane and descend with a parachute

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchparachute
  2. Englishparachute

Borrowed from French parachute, from para- (“protection against”) (as in parasol) and chute (“fall”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans valskerm
  • valskermdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Arabic بَرَاشُوت, مِظَلّة هُبُوط
  • بَرَاشُوت (barāšūt)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • مِظَلّة هُبُوط (miẓallat hubūṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • مَهْبَطَة (mahbaṭa)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Basque jausgailu, paraxut
  • jausgailudevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • paraxutdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Bengali প্যারাশুট
  • প্যারাশুট (pêraśuṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Bulgarian парашу́т, скачам с парашут
  • парашу́т (parašút)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • скачам с парашут (skačam s parašut)to jump with a parachute
  • скоча с парашут (skoča s parašut)to jump with a parachute
Catalan paracaigudes
  • paracaigudesdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Chinese Cantonese 降落傘 /降落伞
  • 降落傘 /降落伞 (gong³ lok⁶ saan³)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Chinese Mandarin 降落傘 /降落伞
  • 降落傘 /降落伞 (jiàngluòsǎn)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Czech padák
  • padákdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Danish faldskærm
  • faldskærmdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Dutch parachute, valscherm
  • parachutedevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • valschermdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Esperanto paraŝuto, paraŝuti
  • paraŝutodevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • paraŝutito jump with a parachute
Estonian langevari
  • langevaridevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Finnish laskuvarjo, leikkivarjo
  • laskuvarjodevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • leikkivarjocloth used in physical education
  • hypätä laskuvarjollato jump with a parachute
French parachute, parachute
  • parachutedevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • parachuteBDSM: scrotum collar from which weights can be hung
German Fallschirm, Schwungtuch
  • Fallschirmdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • Schwungtuchcloth used in physical education
  • mit dem Fallschirm abspringento jump with a parachute
Greek αλεξίπτωτο
  • αλεξίπτωτο (alexíptoto)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Hawaiian haʻupoho
  • haʻupohodevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Hebrew מַצְנֵחַ
  • מַצְנֵחַ (matsnéakh)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Hindi छतरी, हवाई छतरी
  • छतरी (chatrī)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • हवाई छतरी (havāī chatrī)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • पैराशूट (pairāśūṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Hungarian ejtőernyő, ejtőernyőzik
  • ejtőernyődevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • ejtőernyőzikto jump with a parachute
Icelandic fallhlíf
  • fallhlífdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Indonesian parasut
  • parasutdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Italian paracadute, paracadutarsi
  • paracadutedevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • paracadutarsito jump with a parachute
Japanese 落下傘, パラシュート
  • 落下傘 (rakkasan)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • パラシュート (parashūto)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Korean 낙하산, 락하산
  • 낙하산 (nakhasan)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • 락하산 (rakhasan)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • 파라슈트 (parasyuteu)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Latin umbrella descensoria
  • umbrella descensoriadevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Latvian izpletnis
  • izpletnisdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Lithuanian parašiutas
  • parašiutasdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Malay payung terjun
  • payung terjundevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Māori hekerangi, hekerangi
  • hekerangidevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • hekerangito jump with a parachute
Norwegian Bokmål fallskjerm
  • fallskjermdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Polish spadochron, chusta animacyjna
  • spadochrondevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • chusta animacyjnacloth used in physical education
Portuguese paraquedas
  • paraquedasdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Punjabi ਪੈਰਾਸ਼ੂਟ
  • ਪੈਰਾਸ਼ੂਟ (pairāśūṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Romanian parașută, se parașuta
  • parașutădevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • se parașutato jump with a parachute
  • sări cu parașutăto jump with a parachute
Russian парашю́т, пры́гать с парашю́том
  • парашю́т (parašút)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • пры́гать с парашю́том (prýgatʹ s parašútom)to jump with a parachute
Slovak padák
  • padákdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Spanish paracaídas, lanzarse en paracaídas
  • paracaídasdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • lanzarse en paracaídasto jump with a parachute
Swahili parachuti
  • parachutidevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Swedish fallskärm, hoppa fallskärm
  • fallskärmdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • hoppa fallskärmto jump with a parachute
Tagalog parakayda, payong-payong
  • parakaydadevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • payong-payongdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Tamil பாராசூட்
  • பாராசூட் (pārācūṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Thai ร่มชูชีพ, กระโดดร่ม
  • ร่มชูชีพ (rôm-chuu-chîip)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • กระโดดร่ม (grà-dòot-rôm)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • กระโดดร่ม (grà-dòot-rôm)to jump with a parachute
Turkish paraşüt
  • paraşütdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Ukrainian парашу́т
  • парашу́т (parašút)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Urdu پَیراشُوٹ, چَھتْری
  • پَیراشُوٹ (pairāśūṭ)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • چَھتْری (chatrī)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • ہَوائی چَھتْری (havāī chatrī)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Vietnamese (cái) dù, dù hàng không
  • (cái) dùdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
  • dù hàng khôngdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Welsh parasiwt
  • parasiwtdevice designed to control the fall of an object or person
Yiddish פּאַראַשוט
  • פּאַראַשוט (parashut)device designed to control the fall of an object or person
Cite this entry
APA

parachute. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parachute

MLA

“parachute.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parachute. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parachute,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parachute.

Source: parachute on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.