Crossword clues for gliding
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Glide \Glide\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Glided; p. pr. & vb. n. Gliding.] [AS. gl[=i]dan; akin to D. glijden, OHG. gl[=i]tan, G. gleiten, Sw. glida, Dan. glide, and prob. to E. glad.]
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To move gently and smoothly; to pass along without noise, violence, or apparent effort; to pass rapidly and easily, or with a smooth, silent motion, as a river in its channel, a bird in the air, a skater over ice.
The river glideth at his own sweet will.
--Wordsworth. (Phon.) To pass with a glide, as the voice.
(A["e]ronautics) To move through the air by virtue of gravity or momentum; to volplane.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The action or motion of something that glides. 2 The hobby, sport(,) or act of flying a glider. vb. (present participle of glide English)
WordNet
n. the activity of flying a glider [syn: glide, sailplaning, soaring, sailing]
Wikipedia
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders.
Gliding may also refer to:
- Gliding (dance), a group of footwork-oriented dance techniques and styles
- Gliding flight, flight in the absence of thrust
- Gliding motility of microbes.
- Hang gliding, an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider
- Paragliding, an air sport in which a pilot flies a foot-launched unmotorized aircraft with a frameless wing called a paraglider
- Ski Gliding or speed riding, an air sport in which a pilot flies a small fabric wing whilst on skis
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.
Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved.
Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined courses. These gliding competitions test pilots' abilities to make best use of local weather conditions as well as their flying skills. Local and national competitions are organized in many countries, and there are biennial World Gliding Championships. Techniques to maximize a glider's speed around the day's task in a competition have been developed, including the optimum speed to fly, navigation using GPS and the carrying of water ballast. If the weather deteriorates pilots are sometimes unable to complete a cross-country flight. Consequently, they may need to land elsewhere, perhaps in a field, but motorglider pilots can avoid this by starting an engine.
Powered-aircraft and winches are the two most common means of launching gliders. These and other launch methods require assistance and facilities such as airfields, tugs, and winches. These are usually provided by gliding clubs who also train new pilots and maintain high safety standards. Although in most countries the standards of safety of the pilots and the aircraft are the responsibility of governmental bodies, the clubs and sometimes national gliding associations often have delegated authority.
Usage examples of "gliding".
Bees come upon the light wind, gliding with it, but with their bodies aslant across the line of current.
To the north he saw a fleet of six ships and a dozen bateaux gliding southward toward Ticonderoga.
Above my head, that unpleasant, snake-necked bird came gliding back towards the ruins, and I saw that its beack was hooked around a fish that writhed and struggled helplessly.
Andy, and as if noticing his disapproval, the Chickadee spread its wings and hopped into the air, flapping, gliding to another rooftop down the block.
He had often watched the white-browed coucals coming in on a long gliding flight to take cover here amongst the reeds in the breeding season.
Captain Craddock took a gliding step inwards, his face enigmatically hinting a sense of regret which was somehow ominous.
Down the street, a ripple of bows and curtsies moved through the crowd, and then the shifting throng opened to reveal Tarna Feir, gliding along like a queen walking through a pigsty, the red-fringed shawl looped over her arms like a blatant banner.
As for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that creature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the same quality in the Polar quadruped.
Revel, the dancers spinning and gliding in the streets, the falconers displaying the talents of their birds, the tournaments of strength and speed and sword skill waged by men of fighting age, the gleaning remained its most important element, just as it lay at the core of the traveling festivals found in the other kingdoms of the Forelands.
And there, gliding in, was Niffy Gliff, the combination griffin Pegasus with the horn.
As we are gliding along, she tells me that, one month before, Steffani had stopped in her neighbourhood for necessary repairs to his travelling-carriage, and that, on the same day he had made her acquaintance at a house where she had gone with her mother for the purpose of offering their congratulations to a newly-married lady.
In the company of Fox and with a light breeze ruffling my jabot and cooling my overheated face, I believed myself to be gliding towards my answer.
He smiled as Jarg sent the raft gliding towards the other selected point.
If you had seen those hardy and sinewy Frenchmen gliding in the dusk of evening from cottage to cottage, passing the word that the Americans had arrived, saying airy things and pinching one another as they met and hurried on, you would have thought something very amusing and wholly jocund was in preparation for the people of Vincennes.
The man began to move in slow, gliding thrusts, and Kadin continued his stroking on her clit.