LEAD BALLOON

PRONUNCIATION: (led buh-LOON)

MEANING: noun: A complete failure.

ETYMOLOGY: From lead (a heavy metal), from Old English lead + balloon, from Italian dialectal ballone (large ball), augmentative of balla (ball). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to blow or swell), which also gave us ball, boll, bole, bulk, bowl, boulevard, boulder, ballot, folly, and fool. Earliest documented use: 1924.
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PLEAD BALLOON - dialog from Judge Parker comic strip

LEAD GAL LOON - the matriarch of the loon flock

LEAN BALLOON - a zeppelin