gon·do·la

(gŏn′dl-ə, gŏn-dō′lə)

1. Nautical

a. A lightweight narrow barge with ends that curve up into a point, propelled with a single oar from the stern and used on the canals of Venice.

b. A flatbottom riverboat.

2. A gondola car.

3. A basket, enclosure, or instrument sling suspended from and carried aloft by a balloon.

4. An enclosed structure suspended from a cable, used for conveying passengers, as to and from a ski slope.

[Italian, of Venetian origin, alteration (probably influenced by -ola, feminine diminutive suffix, or by Italian dialectal words akin to Italian dondolare, to rock back and forth) of Old Venetian condura, from Medieval Greek kontoura, kondoura, a kind of small boat (probably so called from a distinctive high or wide stern), from feminine of kontouros, having a docked tail : Late Greek kontos, short (probably back-formed from konto-, taken as meaning "short" in such compounds as Greek kontokunēgesion, a hunt using pikes, or kontobolein, to strike with a pole (that is, at short range, not with arrows or javelins), stem of Greek kontos, pike, pole) + Greek ourā, tail; see ors- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gondola

(ˈɡɒndələ)

1. (Nautical Terms) a long narrow flat-bottomed boat with a high ornamented stem and a platform at the stern where an oarsman stands and propels the boat by sculling or punting: traditionally used on the canals of Venice

2. (Aeronautics)

a. a car or cabin suspended from an airship or balloon

b. a moving cabin suspended from a cable across a valley, etc

3. (Nautical Terms) a flat-bottomed barge used on canals and rivers of the US as far west as the Mississippi

4. (Railways) US and Canadian a low open flat-bottomed railway goods wagon

5. (Commerce) a set of island shelves in a self-service shop: used for displaying goods

6. (Broadcasting) Canadian a broadcasting booth built close to the roof over an ice-hockey arena, used by commentators

[C16: from Italian (Venetian dialect), from Medieval Latin gondula, perhaps ultimately from Greek kondu drinking vessel]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gon•do•la

(ˈgɒn dl ə or, esp. for 1, gɒnˈdoʊ lə)

n., pl. -las.

1. a long, narrow, flat-bottomed boat, rowed by an oarsman at the stern: used on the canals in Venice, Italy.

2. a passenger compartment suspended beneath a balloon or airship. Compare car (def. 3).

3. an enclosed cabin suspended from an overhead cable, used to transport passengers, as up and down a ski slope.

4. Also called gon′dola car`. an open railroad freight car with low sides.

[1540–50; < Italian < Venetian]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	gondola - a low flat-bottomed freight car with fixed sides but no roof gondola car freight car - a railway car that carries freight
	2.	gondola - long narrow flat-bottomed boat propelled by sculling; traditionally used on canals of Venice boat - a small vessel for travel on water
	3.	gondola - the compartment that is suspended from an airship and that carries personnel and the cargo and the power plant car airship, dirigible - a steerable self-propelled aircraft compartment - a partitioned section, chamber, or separate room within a larger enclosed area

Translations

زورَق من زوارق البُنْدُقِيَّهقَفَص حول العمارة يقف عليه العُمّال

gondolaklec

gondol

Gondel Sicherheitsgondel

γόνδολα

gondole nacelle

gondola

gondóllöryggisbúr

gondola gondoliere navicella

gondolagondolininkas

gondolapiekaru grozs

arbeidsheis gondol

gondola

gondoliskele asansörü

两头尖的平底船威尼斯平底船安全吊笼

gondola

[ˈgɒndələ]

A. N

1. (= boat) → góndola f

2. [of hot-air balloon] → barquilla f

B. CPD gondola car N (US) (Rail) → vagón m descubierto, batea f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

gondola

[ˈgɒndələ] n (= boat) → gondole f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

gondola

(in Venice, of balloon, cable car etc) → Gondel f

(US Rail: also gondola car) → offener Güterwagen

(in supermarket) → Gondel f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

gondola

[ˈgɒndələ] n → gondola

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

gondola

(ˈgondələ) noun

1. a long narrow boat used on the canals of Venice.

2. a kind of safety cage for people who are working on the outside of a tall building to stand in.

gondoˈlier (-ˈliə) noun

a person who rows a gondola.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Some have great broad stone staircases leading down to the water, with heavy stone balustrades ornamented with statuary and fancifully adorned with creeping vines and bright-colored flowers--for all the world like a drop curtain in a theatre, and lacking nothing but long-waisted, high-heeled women and plumed gallants in silken tights coming down to go serenading in the splendid gondola in waiting.

Our hotel sits at the water's edge--at least its front garden does--and we walk among the shrubbery and smoke at twilight; we look afar off at Switzerland and the Alps, and feel an indolent willingness to look no closer; we go down the steps and swim in the lake; we take a shapely little boat and sail abroad among the reflections of the stars; lie on the thwarts and listen to the distant laughter, the singing, the soft melody of flutes and guitars that comes floating across the water from pleasuring gondolas; we close the evening with exasperating billiards on one of those same old execrable tables.

View in context

He had not left the hotel ten minutes before he was fast asleep in the gondola. Waking, on reaching the landing-place, he crossed the Lido, and enjoyed a morning's swim in the Adriatic.

Towards six o'clock his gondola took him back, with another fine appetite, to meet some travelling acquaintances with whom he had engaged to dine at the table d'hote.

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If they are proud you will be on the right side." And she offered to show me their house to begin with--to row me thither in her gondola. I let her know that I had already been to look at it half a dozen times; but I accepted her invitation, for it charmed me to hover about the place.

As we went, however, in her gondola, gliding there under the sociable hood with the bright Venetian picture framed on either side by the movable window, I could see that she was amused by my infatuation, the way my interest in the papers had become a fixed idea.

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Gondola after gondola swept up to the marble steps, and left its lovely load to swell the brilliant throng that filled the stately halls of Count Adelon.

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And the voice in the gondola rolled on, piping melodiously of Effort and Self-Sacrifice, full of high purpose, full of beauty, full even of sympathy and the love of men, yet somehow eluding all that was actual and insistent in Leonard's life.

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I've seen men from Chicago sit in a gondola in Venice on a moonlight night and brag about their drainage canal.

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I was entangled in a great cloak that they flung over me, carried down to a gondola, and hurried to the Pozzi dungeons.

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Sometimes she would step into one of the gondolas that were always kept in waiting, moored to painted posts at the door--when she could escape from the attendance of that oppressive maid, who was her mistress, and a very hard one--and would be taken all over the strange city.

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A wide stream flowed through the garden, and on it floated richly ornamented barges and gondolas filled with people dressed in the most elegant manner and covered with jewels.

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