helicopters

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of helicopter.

   Several helicopters dropped water on the spreading wildfire.

   Military helicopters thundered low over the coastline at dawn.

   Note

   A regular plural that carries every meaning of the singular with it. It covers rotary-wing aircraft, the powered trowels that spread concrete, the winged fruit of ash, elm and maple, and, in slang, dragonflies. Breakdancers and devil-stick performers also count their spinning moves as helicopters. The same spelling serves as the present-tense verb, so a number or determiner before it (two helicopters, the helicopters) marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of helicopter.

   The tour company helicopters guests onto the glacier each morning.

   Whenever an executive helicopters into the site, the whole crew stops to watch.

   Note

   The verb behind this form works in two ways. It is transitive when someone helicopters people or supplies to a place, and intransitive when a person simply helicopters in. It can also describe anything that spins like a rotor blade. Figuratively, it describes an overprotective parent (she helicopters over his homework). With I, you, we or they, the bare form helicopter is used instead.

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