airplaneful
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: airplanesful
Etymology: From airplane + -ful.
Senses: examples: text: Economists, experts, lobbyists, ghost writers, woman’s organization speakers, lawyers, public relations counsels, and what-have-you’s were hurled at NRA literally by the airplaneful.
ref: 1933, Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter and New York Druggists’ Price Current, page 30:
text: The pilot of an airplaneful of spirit guests.
ref: 1935 March 26, Henry Vance, “The Coal Bin: Things We Wouldn’t Like to Be”, in The Birmingham News, 48th year, number 11, Birmingham, Ala., page eight:
text: We hear a great deal, in these machine-motivated days, about ‘air-conditioning’ — by which it is meant that a houseful of air, or a trainful or an airplaneful, can now be adjusted in both temperature and humidity to suit individual human tastes or general human needs.
ref: 1942, William Holmes Wenstrom, Weather and the Ocean of Air, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 212:
text: My, there are a lot of people! (two airplanesful) Yes, there are as many as two airplanesful.
ref: 1966, Richard B. Noss and Im Proum with the assistance of Dale I. Purtle and Someth Suos, Cambodian Basic Course, volumes one (units 1–45), Washington, D.C.: Foreign Service Institute, page 349:
text: To obtain a contract, the R and D companies submit technical report proposals by the airplaneful to the various granting agencies.
ref: 1967, Proceedings, Agricultural Extension Service, page 10:
text: “[…]All a stewardess is,” she [Gabriella Peele] quipped, “is a hostess giving a party for an airplaneful of people.”
ref: 1973 May 16, Margie Davidson, “A Stewardess’ Career Slows Just a Little With Marriage”, in The News and Observer, volume CCXV, number 136, Raleigh, N.C., page 13:
text: I’ve seen one child bring an airplaneful of passengers to the edge of Valium just by running up and down the aisles for five hours.
ref: 1988, Good Housekeeping, page 18:
text: It was late on a Monday afternoon in spring; the weather was clear, and in an access of airport camaraderie the pilot collected an airplaneful of passengers to accompany him on the flight.
ref: 1990 October, Peter Garrison, “Aftermath: Pride Before Fall”, in Flying, page 84:
text: Our delegation was followed by an airplaneful of businessmen;[…]
ref: 1993 August 18, Arpad Goncz, quotee, “Goncz on Russia, Role as Head of State”, in Daily Report, Supplement, East Europe, page 3:
text: In spite of favorable statistics, lots of people still fear flying, and would vote to have pilots lobotomized and implanted with Mode-C Attitude Adjustors if they thought it would ease their discomfort at seeing another airplaneful of people spread across forty acres of newspaper headline.
ref: 2001, James Nathan Post, Good Nazis in Office, Good Niggers in Jail, Writers Club Press, →ISBN, page 23:
text: He soon developed a conflict with a lawyer in Business Affairs who kept questioning some of the personal expenses that the new studio head was writing off—expenses like an airplaneful of orchids sent to an actress girlfriend in Rio.
ref: 2006, Joe Eszterhas, The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God!, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 85:
text: Tourists flock to our region by the airplaneful for the chance to land a fish, and I get to go whenever my schedule is clear.
ref: 2011 March 3, Elissa Allen, “Fishing is about more than the fish”, in Waterline (Charlotte Sun), page 20:
glosses: Enough to fill an airplane.
Related terms: aeroplaneful
planeful