balloons

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of balloon.

   Bright red balloons drifted above the crowd at the parade.

   The pilots inflated their hot-air balloons before sunrise.

   Note

   A regular plural, made with a plain -s, and it covers every kind of balloon the singular can mean: party decorations, hot-air craft, the sac used in angioplasty, a comic's speech bubble, even a brandy glass. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so look at what comes first. A number or article (three balloons, the balloons) marks the noun. A singular subject (the cost balloons) marks the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of balloon.

   The project balloons in scope as new demands keep arriving.

   Her sleeve balloons out dramatically whenever the wind catches it.

   Note

   The -s form that agrees with he, she, it or a singular noun: the budget balloons. Its range splits by construction. Without an object, it means to swell or grow fast (the deficit balloons) or to travel by balloon. With an object, it means to inflate something or to send a ball high into the air (she balloons the kick over the bar). It can also describe an aircraft that plunges alternately up and down.

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