Merriam-Webster's Word Central

July 01, 2011

aerobatics (noun singular or plural): \air-uh-BAT-iks\
What does it mean?: : spectacular flying feats and maneuvers
How do you use it?: Six U.S. Air Force pilots put on an amazing display of aerobatics at the air show.
Are you a word wiz?: "Aerobatics" was one of many flight-related words that began appearing in magazines and newspapers in the first two decades of the 1900s (others included "airline," "airpower," and "flight path"). Why do you think those words started appearing then?

A. They were inspired by the Wright brothers' first flight.

B. They were coined in a book by Roald Dahl.

C. They were inspired by the invention of the hot air balloon.

D. They were coined by scientists working on a rocket ship for NASA.

The first flight of Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903 and their demonstration of the first practical airplane in 1905 definitely played a key role in popularizing the vocabulary of airplanes. NASA wasn't founded until 1958, so its role in adding aerodynamic terms to our vocabulary didn't start until later. Although author Roald Dahl wrote in the 1900s, his first book wasn't published until the 1940s, so that choice is out too. Hot air balloons were actually introduced by the Montgolfier brothers in the 1780s; they had their primary influence on English long before the 1900s.