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Heavier-than-air craft that is propelled by the flapping of wings
Answer for the clue "Heavier-than-air craft that is propelled by the flapping of wings ", 11 letters:
ornithopter
Word definitions for ornithopter in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
An ornithopter (from Greek ornithos "bird" and pteron "wing") is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings . Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats , and insects . Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1908, from French ornithoptère (1908), a machine designed to fly be mechanical flapping of wings, from ornitho- + Greek pteron "wing" (see pterodactyl ). A mode of flight considered promising at least since Leonardo's day.
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. An aircraft that generates lift through the flapping of its wings.
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. heavier-than-air craft that is propelled by the flapping of wings [syn: orthopter ]
Usage examples of ornithopter.
Behind Kynes, other Fremen were throwing fabric covers over their ornithopters.
A pair of ornithopters fluttered close to the mass of its cigar-shaped gas bag.
The American navy blockaded the islands, trying to force capitulation by economic strangulation, but the Japanese were entrenched in their conquests, and stealthy lines of supply by ornithopter proved difficult to disrupt.
On the hilltop sat a more fanciful machine, Ornithopter Number Three, the product of heavy mental, physical, and financial investment, the fulcrum upon which these very grounds had been leveraged, the culmination of years of work and countless dreams of escaping Earthly encumbrances.
Looking behind him, Hawkmoon saw the scarlet flamingoes sweeping upward, their graceful fight exceedingly beautiful in comparison with the clumsy motions of the metal ornithopters that parodied them.
Soaring into the sky, the scarlet flamingoes, with their riders in their high saddles, each man armed with a flamelance, wheeled toward the brazen ornithopters.