Bal-lo͞on', n.

n. [Fr. ballon, Sp. balon, It. ballone, augm. of Fr. balle, Sp. bala, It. balla. See BALE and BALL.]

1. A bag or hollow vessel, made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere;—called, for distinction, an air-balloon.
2. (Arch.) A ball or globe on the top of a pillar.
3. (Chem.) A round vessel with a short neck, to receive whatever is distilled; a glass receiver of a spherical form.
4. (Pyrotechnics.) A ball of pasteboard, or kind of bomb, stuffed with combustibles, which, bursting like a bomb, exhibits sparks of fire like stars.
5. A game somewhat resembling tennis, played in an open field, with a large ball of leather, inflated with air. [Obs.] Burton.