aerodyne

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The Word of the Day for August 11 is:

aerodyne   \AIR-uh-dine\   noun
      : a heavier-than-air aircraft (as an airplane, helicopter, or glider)

Example sentence:
      Every summer aerodyne fanciers gather at the Experimental Aircraft 
Association's air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to show off home-built aircraft 
and get a close-up look at classic flying machines.

Did you know?
      "I regret the introduction of a new term in the nomenclature of 
aerodynamics, but ... 'flying-machine' is too general and too suggestive of a 
wing-flapping machine; ... moreover, 'aeroplane' is used to denote a soaring 
machine ...which is not power-driven." Thus a Canadian engineer named W.R. 
Turnbull, writing around 1906, acquainted readers of the _Physical Review_ with 
"aerodyne" (a back-formation from "aerodynamic"). But the term never had 
adequate propulsion and it foundered. It received a temporary lift in the 1950s 
when aeronautics pioneer Alexander Lippisch insisted he preferred "aerodyne" 
for his experimental wingless aircraft, which was "not an airplane but a new 
concept of flight." Today, "aerodyne" serves best in contrast to "aerostat," 
the term for lighter-than-air aircraft such as balloons and blimps.