PARACHUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does parachute mean? 

• PARACHUTE (noun)
  The noun PARACHUTE has 1 sense:

1. rescue equipment consisting of a device that fills with air and retards your fall

  Familiarity information: PARACHUTE used as a noun is very rare.

• PARACHUTE (verb)
  The verb PARACHUTE has 1 sense:

1. jump from an airplane and descend with a parachute

  Familiarity information: PARACHUTE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARACHUTE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chute; parachute

Hypernyms ("parachute" is a kind of...):

rescue equipment (equipment used to rescue passengers in case of emergency)

Meronyms (parts of "parachute"):

canopy (the umbrellalike part of a parachute that fills with air)

harness (a support consisting of an arrangement of straps for holding something to the body (especially one supporting a person suspended from a parachute))

ripcord (a cord that is pulled to open a parachute from its pack during a descent)

shroud (a line that suspends the harness from the canopy of a parachute)

static line (a cord used instead of a ripcord to open a parachute; the cord is attached at one end to the aircraft and temporarily attached to the pack of a parachute at the other; it opens the parachute after the jumper is clear of the plane)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "parachute"):

drogue; drogue chute; drogue parachute (a parachute used to decelerate an object that is moving rapidly)

drogue parachute (a small parachute that pulls the main parachute from its storage pack)

parasail (parachute that will lift a person up into the air when it is towed by a motorboat or a car)

Derivation:

parachute (jump from an airplane and descend with a parachute)

parachutist (a person who jumps from aircraft using a parachute)

• PARACHUTE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they parachute    ... he / she / it parachutes   
Past simple: parachuted   
Past participle: parachuted   
-ing form: parachuting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Jump from an airplane and descend with a parachute

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

chute; jump; parachute

Hypernyms (to "parachute" is one way to...):

dive; plunge; plunk (drop steeply)

"Parachute" entails doing...:

glide (fly in or as if in a glider plane)

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "parachute"):

sky dive; skydive (jump from an airplane and perform various maneuvers before opening one's parachute)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

parachute (rescue equipment consisting of a device that fills with air and retards your fall)

parachuter (a person who jumps from aircraft using a parachute)

parachuting (descent with a parachute)

parachutist (a person who jumps from aircraft using a parachute)

 Context examples 

No, it is part of my plan that each in turn shall descend as in a parachute, and the balloon be drawn back by means which I shall have no difficulty in perfecting.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A parachute will slow the capsule down so it can be retrieved, then researchers will go about examining the precious cargo taken directly from an asteroid.

(Evening Launch Catapults OSIRIS-REx Toward Asteroid Encounter, NASA)

Some scientists believe the first fliers were tree-dwelling dinosaurs who could parachute and glide before they could fly, while some say flight grew up from the ground, from runners.

(Scientific study suggests dinosaurs flapped their wings as they ran, Wikinews)

Analysis of the images indicates what appears to be a partially deployed configuration, with what is thought to be the rear cover with its pilot/drogue chute (still attached) and main parachute close by.

('Lost' 2003 Mars Lander Found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA)