Sunday, September 29, 2013

Fwd: contrail: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/9/29
Subject: contrail: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 29, 2013

contrail \KON-treyl\, noun:

a visible condensation of water droplets or ice crystals from the atmosphere, occurring in the wake of an aircraft, rocket, or missile under certain conditions.

With the air over the desert as dry as it was this time of year, the target would not leave much of a contrail, if any.
-- Richard Hilton, Skyhammer, 2009

"Man is not merely a linear thinker," she said, drawing a line of mist in the air. It hovered like a distant contrail.
-- Piers Anthony, On a Pale Horse, 1983

Contrail was coined in the 1940s as a portmanteau of condensation and trail to refer to the water vapor emitted by aircraft.

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