Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Airborne |
AirborneAdjective1. Moved or conveyed by or through air. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| ai | English | Airborne interceptor | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In particular, airborne (the airborne, airborne troops, etc.) are military units set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle behind enemy lines. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. In addition the formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough large aircraft a huge force can appear "out of nowhere" in minutes, an action referred to as vertical envelopment.
A complete airborne force consists of three types of units, paratroops, airlanding and airmobile. Paratroops are the original basis for the airborne force, but it was obvious from the start that a normal parachutist could carry enough equipment for very limited combat. To enhance their supplies the parachutist was sometimes followed into WW2 combat by the airlanding troops in gliders, and finally by the more conventional units in aircraft who fly into captured airfields, known as the airmobile.
The basic premise of the "airborne" is that they can arrive with such speed that a coherent defence cannot be mounted against them for some time. It is assumed that this tactical advantage cannot be sustained for very long, so effective airborne missions require the rapid advance of ground based troops in support.
The first reference to the use of what we would now call a paratroop force dates back to 1918 when in the midst of WWI Colonel Billy Mitchell suggested dropping elements of the US 1st Division behind German lines near Metz. It's somewhat unclear how this was to be achieved given the state of development of both the parachute and aircraft at the time.
After the war most of the progress in advanced military thinking took place in Italy and in addition to the jet engine, assault rifles, strategic bombing and a host of other "advances", they were also the first country to carry out a true paratroop drop in November 1927. Within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into the two elite Folgore and Nembo divisions. Althogh these would go on to fight with distinction in WWII, they were never used in a parachute drop.
At about the same time the USSR was also experimenting with the idea, planning to eventually drop entire units complete with vehicles. To train enough experienced jumpers, parachute clubs were set up all over Russia with the aim of being able to transfer skilled members (or at least the men) into the armed forces if needed. The plan had progressed to the point that their large drops were demonstrated to foreign observers in 1936.
One of the observing parties, Germany, was particularly interested. In 1936 Major Immanns was ordered to set up a parachute school and was given a number of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft to train on. The military had already purchased large numbers of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft which were now modified (slightly) for use as paratroop transports in addition to their other duties.
Several groups within the German armed forces attempted to raise their own paratroop formations and there was some confusion all around. This changed when the Luftwaffe General Kurt Student was put in command of the effort, and the true power of the Fallschirmjager finally started to take form. Several operations were taken during the war (plus several others that were not carried out for a number of reasons) before Hitler forbade the airdrop after the very close battle on Crete. He felt that the main power of the paratroop was novelty, and now that the British had clearly figured out how to defend against them, there was no real point to using them any more.
Perhaps the most famous airborne operation of history is Operation Market Garden of September 1944, in which 35,000 troops were dropped 100 miles behind the German front lines in an attempt to capture a bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem. Three complete airborne divisions, the British 1st Airborne, and the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, were dropped at various points along Highway 69 in order to create a "carpet" over which the British XXX Corps could rapidly advance. German opposition was some three times that expected, including two under-strength but very experienced panzer divisions, and in the end the British 1st Airborne division was all but destroyed and the bridge remained in German hands.
In recent times the Mil 24 Hind, H-3 Sea King/Commando, H-46 Sea Knight, H-47 Chinook and H-53 Jolly Green Giant (or Sea Stallion) medium-lift helicopters have all been used to deploy soldiers or marines rapidly across battlefields (eg. in Afghanistan, the Falkland Islands/Malvinas, Iraq and Sierra Leone.)
See also:
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Airborne."
Crosswords: Airborne |
| English words defined with "airborne": air reconnaissance ♦ fly ♦ SAM, surface-to-air, surface-to-air missile ♦ takeoff ♦ wing. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "airborne": airborne electromagnetic prospecting, airborne force liaison officer, airborne particulates, Airborne radioactivity area, AIRBORNE SENSOR SPECIALIST, Airborne Snow Survey Program, Airborne Snow Water Equivalent Measurement Theory ♦ multiple airborne target trajectory system. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | An airborne toxic event. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) The T-virus is protean, changing from liquid to airborne to blood transmission, depending on it's environment. (Resident Evil; writing credit: Paul W.S. Anderson) Mr. President, about, uh, 35 minutes ago, General Jack Ripper, the commanding general of, uh, Burpelson Air Force Base, issued an order to the 34 B-52's of his Wing, which were airborne at the time as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Drop-Kick. (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; writing credit: Peter George; Stanley Kubrick) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Airborne (1962) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Theater & Movies | |||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Illustration of arthroconidia becoming airborne.Credit: CDC. |  | Airborne dissemination of Coccidioides immitis: title slide.Credit: CDC. |
 | This movie depicts the airborne laser altimeter collecting data. In 1993 and 1994, NASA researchers surveyed the Greenland ice sheet using an airborne laser altimeter. Ten flight lines flown in 1993 in southern Greenland were resurveyed in 1998. Sci.Credit: NASA. |  | ER-2 Airborne Science Aircraft.Credit: NASA. |
 | Airborne sealion at Amlia Island.Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) airborne.Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | External chutes for airborne expendable bathythermographs.Credit: Flying With NOAA. |  | Dropwindsonde station and airborne expendable bathythermograph station on P-3.Credit: Flying With NOAA. |
 | Soldiers from Headquarters Alpha Company, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. |  | E-3 airborne warning and control system aircraft. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Falling; fell; fall; plunge; death; cliff; airborne; nose-dive; plummet; slow motion. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | TB is primarily an airborne disease. (references) | |
It can become airborne and inhaled by humans. (references) | ||
This is called aerosol or airborne transmission. (references) | ||
Business | Other growth areas for U.S. firms include aircraft engines, airborne equipment, general aviation equipment, Very High Frequency (VHF) equipment, Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), airport lighting systems, and large transport aircraft. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Russia | The six defendants include former intelligence chief of the airborne infantry Colonel Pavel Popovskikh, three other officers, and two civilians. (references) |
Economic History | Moldova | Mail and courier services are available in Moldova through DHL, UPS, TNT, FedEx, Airborne Express and other delivery service providers. (references) |
Turkey | Courier Services: Major international courier firms operating in Turkey include DHL, Federal Express, TNT, UPS, and Airborne Express International. (references) | |
Travel | Vietnam | Express mail service for local and international mail is provided by Vietnam's Express Mail Service (EMS) or one of the foreign express delivery companies: Airborne Express, DHL Worldwide Express, FedEx, TNT Express Worldwide, and UPS. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Airborne" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Airborne" is used about 437 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 437 | 13,188 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "airborne": airborne alert ♦ airborne assault ♦ airborne command post ♦ airborne equipment ♦ airborne force ♦ airborne force liaison officer ♦ airborne forces ♦ airborne interception equipment ♦ airborne moving target ♦ airborne noise emitted ♦ airborne operation ♦ airborne operations ♦ airborne particles ♦ airborne radio relay ♦ airborne rocket ♦ airborne segment ♦ airborne target ♦ airborne troops ♦ airborne warning and control system ♦ airborne weather radar ♦ become airborne ♦ daylight airborne assault ♦ side looking airborne radar ♦ vor airborne equipment error. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "airborne"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | në fluturim (on the wing), i transportuar me rrugë ajrore, i stërvitur për luftë, i ngritur (astir, elevated, erect, established, high, uprise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | منقول جوا, محمول جوا, مجوقل منقول جوا. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | въздушнодесантен, отделил се от земята, преносим по въздуха. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 空中 (Aerial, Aerially). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | dopravovaný letecky. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | luftbåret kontakteksem (airborne contact dermatitis), fordampning ved 20 grader C er ubetydelig;en koncentration af partikler i luften,der forårsager gener,kan imidlertid nås hurtigt (be reached quickly, evaporation at 20 degrees C is negligible;a nuisance causing concentration of airborne particles can, however), fordampning ved 20 grader C er ubetydelig;en skadelig koncentration af partikler i luften kan imidlertid nåes hurtigt (be reached quickly, evaporation at 20 degrees C is negligible;a harmful concentration of airborne particles can, however), inhalationsallergen (airborne allergens, inhalational allergens, respiratory sensitiser, respiratory sensitizer), inhalations-fabisme (airborne favism, inhalational favism), inhalationssygdom (airborne diseases, inhalation diseases), kuludvindingsmaskiner som skaerer over den fulde bredde af brydningsfronten, er tilkolbet et transportbaand, der ved skiftestedet foraarsager ophvirvling af stoev (the full-face machines are provided with powerful conveyors and the transfer points are areas where considerable quantities of dust become airborne), drone (airborne target, drone, pilotless aircraft, pilotless target aircraft, remotely piloted vehicle, target drone), luftbåren støj (airborne noise emitted), udstoedningsgassen fra benzindrevne biler er ansvarlig for ca.97% af atmosfaerisk lufts blyindhold (the exhaust from gasoline-fueled vehicles accounts for approximatively 97 percent of the airborne lead), luftbårne partikler (air-borne dust, airborne particulates), luftbaaren sygdom (airborne diseases, inhalation diseases), luftbaarent allergen (airborne allergens, inhalational allergens, respiratory sensitiser, respiratory sensitizer), side-looking radar (side-looking airborne radar, side-looking radar, SLAR), SLAR (side looking radar, side-looking airborne radar, side-looking radar, SLAR), svovldioxid i atmosfæren (airborne SO2, airborne sulphur dioxide, atmospheric SO2, atmospheric sulfur dioxide, sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere), tilbageholdelse af luftbaarne radionuklider paa de overjordiske plantedele og i saerdeleshed paa frugterne under disses dannelse : floral kontamination (and particularly on the developing fruit : contamination through floral absorption, retention of airborne radionuclides on the above-ground parts ( or aerial parts ) of the plant), langtransport af luftforurening (long range transport of air pollutants, long-distance transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollution, long-range transport of airborne pollutants, long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | atmosferisch zwaveldioxyde (airborne SO2, airborne sulphur dioxide, atmospheric SO2, atmospheric sulfur dioxide), ongeveer 97% van het lood in de lucht is afkomstig van uitlaatgassen van voertuigen met benzinemotoren (the exhaust from gasoline-fueled vehicles accounts for approximatively 97 percent of the airborne lead), de machines die over de gehele breedte graven,zijn voorzien van een transportband,die bij de overlaadpunten veel stof doet opdwarrelen (the full-face machines are provided with powerful conveyors and the transfer points are areas where considerable quantities of dust become airborne), dermatitis door airborn irriterende stoffen (airborne contact dermatitis), dermatitis vanwege door de lucht aangevoerde irriterende stoffen (airborne contact dermatitis), emissieprodukt (airborne agents), inhalatie-allergeen (airborne allergens, inhalational allergens, respiratory sensitiser, respiratory sensitizer), inhalatieziekte (airborne diseases, inhalation diseases), voortgebracht luchtgeluid (airborne noise emitted), op afstand bestuurd toestel (airborne target, drone, pilotless aircraft, remotely piloted vehicle), retentie van radionucliden uit de lucht in de bovengrondse plantendelen, in het bijzonder in de zich ontwikkelende vrucht : bloeiwijze-besmetting (and particularly on the developing fruit : contamination through floral absorption, retention of airborne radionuclides on the above-ground parts ( or aerial parts ) of the plant), transport op lange afstand van atmosferische polluënten (long range transport of air pollutants, long-distance transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollution, long-range transport of airborne pollutants, long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants), uit de lucht afkomstige deeltjes (air-borne dust, airborne particulates), verdamping bij 20 graden C is te verwaarlozen;een hinderlijke concentratie van in de lucht aanwezige deeltjes kan echter snel worden bereikt (be reached quickly, evaporation at 20 degrees C is negligible;a nuisance causing concentration of airborne particles can, however), verdamping bij 20 graden C is te verwaarlozen;een voor de gezondheid schadelijke concentratie in de lucht kan echter snel worden bereikt (be reached quickly, evaporation at 20 degrees C is negligible;a harmful concentration of airborne particles can, however), inhalatiefabisme (airborne favism, inhalational favism). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | هوابرد, بوسیله هوانقل وانتقال یافته . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ilmassa oleva rikkidioksidi (airborne SO2, airborne sulphur dioxide, atmospheric SO2, atmospheric sulfur dioxide), ilmaperäiset hiukkaset (air-borne dust, airborne particulates), ilmansaasteiden kaukokulkeutuminen (long range transport of air pollutants, long-distance transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollutants, long-range transport of air pollution, long-range transport of airborne pollutants, long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants), ilmakuljetusjoukot (airborne troops), ilmakehän rikkidioksidi (airborne SO2, airborne sulphur dioxide, atmospheric SO2, atmospheric sulfur dioxide, sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | aeroporte, aéroporté (air-borne). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Luftlande..., in der luft befindlich. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αερομεταφερόμενος. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | כוח מוטס (airborne force). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | légi úton továbbított (abn), légi úton szállított (abn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | terbang (fly), naik di udara. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | aerotrasportato. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 空挺 , エール大学 (acquired immune deficiency syndrome, aerobic dancing, aerobicise, aerobics, aerodynamics, aerogram, aerosol, aid, AIDS, AIDS virus, air, air bag, air brake, air breathing engine, air cargo, air check, air circulating system, air cleaner, air compressor, air conditioner, air conditioning, air curtain, air cushion, air dome, air door, air force, air girl, air gun, air hostess, air mail, air mattress, air pad, air pageant, air people, air pocket, air pot, air pump, air rifle, air right, air service, air shoot, air shuttle, air sick, air suspension, air terminal, air towel, airbrush, Airbus, airline, airport, airport tax, airsick bag, airsickness, airway, alias, alien, Edam cheese, eight, eight beat, exercising with aerobics, hit point, home page, HP, on-air monitor, stewardess, Yale University). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | くうてい, エアボーン . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 공수 (karate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | getlagh, currit lesh yn aer. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | airborneay transportado pelo ar. (various references) перевозимый по воздуху. (various references) vazdušnodesantni, vazdušni desant (airdrop). (various references) aerotransportado, volando (flying, jump to it), llevado por el aire, en vuelo. (various references) flygburen. (various references) що перевозиться через повітря, авіаційний (aeronautic, aeronautical, air, air raid), літаковий, бортовий (on board). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Airborne" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: airbore, airborn, airbourne, airbrone, Arbonne, Arinbjorn, Aubonne, Aykbourn, Darbourne, gisburne, Harbourne. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "airborne" (pronounced e"rbô'rn) |
| 4 | -b ô' r n | firstborn, inborn, seaborne, waterborne. |
| 3 | -ô' r n | bighorn, Buckthorn, bullhorn, Hartshorn, hawthorn, Longhorn, popcorn, pronghorn, shoehorn, shopworn, unicorn. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-i-n-o-r-r" | |
-1 letter: barnier. | |
-2 letters: barren, barrio, bonier, borane, briner, ironer, orbier, reborn. | |
-3 letters: airer, arbor, bairn, barer, baron, barre, beano, boner, borer, borne, brain, briar, brier, brine, irone, noria, rebar, reran, robin. | |
-4 letters: abri, aeon, aero, airn, bane, bani, bare, barn, bean, bear, bier, bine, birr, boar, bone, bora, bore, born, brae, bran, bren, brie, brin. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-i-n-o-r-r" | |
+1 letter: forebrain. | |
+2 letters: aberration, brainpower, carabinero, forbearing, forebrains, hibernator, linerboard, reboarding. | |
+3 letters: aberrations, aerobraking, brainpowers, carabineros, carburetion, cerebration, fingerboard, hibernators, interrobang, linerboards, overbearing, probationer, reabsorbing, reprobating, reprobation. | |
+4 letters: aberrational, banderillero, brainstormed, brainstormer, carburetions, cerebrations, decarbonizer, dermabrasion, fingerboards, incorporable, interlobular, interorbital, interrobangs, loganberries, neurofibroma, nonlibraries, overlaboring, perturbation, probationers, procarbazine, reprobations, rowanberries, tubocurarine. | |
+5 letters: banderilleros, brainstormers, breadboarding, carboniferous, cerebrospinal, decarbonizers, decerebration, dermabrasions, gubernatorial, interbehavior, interoperable, neurofibromas, overbearingly, overbreathing, perturbations, procarbazines, reattribution, recalibration, reinforceable, rekeyboarding, relubrication, reverberation, salmonberries, subcontraries, subversionary, tubocurarines, verbigeration. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 69 72 62 6F 72 6E 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- .. .-. -... --- .-. -. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01101001 01110010 01100010 01101111 01110010 01101110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A i r b o r n e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0069 0072 0062 006F 0072 006E 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3575846881848071 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
