The Collaborative International Dictionary
parachute \par"a*chute\, v. i. TO descend to th ground from an airplane or other high place using a parachute; as, when the plane stalled, he parachuted safely to the ground.
golden parachute a generous set of financial benefits, including severance pay, provided by contract to a high-level corporate employee in the event s/he is dismissed or his/her job is lost in a corporate takeover or merger; also, the contract providing for such benefits.
drogue parachute a small parachute that is first released and opened in order to more reliably deploy a larger parachute. Also called drogue.
WordNet
n. a small parachute that pulls the main parachute from its storage pack
a parachute used to decelerate an object that is moving rapidly [syn: drogue, drogue chute]
Wikipedia
A drogue parachute is a parachute designed to be deployed from a rapidly moving object in order to slow the object, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. It was invented in Russia by Gleb Kotelnikov in 1912.
Usage examples of "drogue parachute".
An explosion resounded, signaling that the drogue parachute had been mortared out.
Han thought she looked as if somebody had draped a drogue parachute over an escape pod.
But this object was no threat, and so nobody even noticed when it rotated and fired braking rockets, or when, in the lower atmosphere, it popped a hatch and deployed a drogue parachute.