Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAL-LOON', n. [Fr. ballon, a foot-ball; Sp. balon; It. pallone; W. pelhen, from pêl, a ball. See Ball.]

1. In general, any spherical hollow body. – Encyc.
2. In chimistry, a round vessel with a short neck, to receive whatever is distilled; a glass receiver of a spherical form.
3. In architecture, a hall or globe on the top of a pillar.
4. In fireworks, a ball of pasteboard, or kind of bomb, stuffed with combustibles, to be played off, when fired, either in the air, or in water, which bursting like a bomb, exhibits sparks of fire like stars. – Johnson. Encyc.
5. A game somewhat resembling tennis, played in an open field, with a large ball of leather, inflated with wind. – Encyc.
6. A bag or hollow vessel, made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; called for distinction, an air-balloon.
7. In France, a quantity of paper, containing 24 reams. [See Bale.]
8. In France, balloon, ballon or ballot, a quantity of glass plates; of white glass, 25 bundles of six plates each; of colored glass, 12 ½ bundles of three plates each. – Encyc.