<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a bag made of thin rubber or other light material, usually brightly colored, inflated with air or with some lighter-than-air gas and used as a children's plaything or as a decoration.</li><li>a bag made of a light material, as silk or plastic, filled with heated air or a gas lighter than air, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere and often having a car or gondola attached below for carrying passengers or scientific instruments.</li><li>(in drawings, cartoons, etc.) a balloon-shaped outline enclosing words represented as issuing from the mouth of the speaker.</li><li>an ornamental ball at the top of a pillar, pier, or the like.</li><li>a large, globular wineglass.</li><li>Chemistry Now Rare. a round-bottomed flask.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>to go up or ride in a balloon.</li><li>to swell or puff out like a balloon.</li><li>to multiply or increase at a rapid rate: Membership has ballooned beyond all expectations.</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>puffed out like a balloon: balloon sleeves.</li><li>Finance. (of a loan, mortgage, or the like) having a payment at the end of the term that is much bigger than previous ones.</li></ul>