aerial, taereal

[Formed, in imitation of ethereal (q.v.), from Lat, aërius, more rarely aëreus = (1) pertaining to air, (2) rising high in air, (3) vain, fleeting; Fr. aérien; Ital. aereo.] The spelling aëreal is rare, and used chiefly in poetry. I. Gen. In any way pertaining to, or con nected with the air. IL. Specially: 1. Consisting of air, or of a gaseous substance like it. Filled with air or anything similar. "Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe, breathe, That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath." Pope: Rape of the Lock, canto ii, 57, 58. from the earth Up hither, like aërial vapours, flew," Milton: P. L., bk. iil. "Twelve days, while Boreas vex'd th' aërial space, My hospitable dome he deign'd to grace. Pope: Homer's Ody ey, bk. xix., 230-1 2. Resembling air. "Before us, mountains stern and desolate; But in the majesty of distance now Set off, and to our ken appearing fair Of aspect, with aerial softne clad, And beautified with morning's purple beams." Words worth: Excursion, bk. it. 4. Inhabiting or traversing the air. "Where those immortal shapes Of bright aërial spirits live inspher'd, In regions mild of calm and serene air." Milton: Comus "Aerial animals may be subdivided into birds and flies."-Locke. "Or fetch the aerial eagle to the ground, Till drooping, sick'ning, dying, they began." Pope: E ay on Man , ep. iii., 222, 223, although, as we have seen, the young of other spiders do po e the power of performing aërial voyages."-Darwin: Voyage round the World, ch. viii. Aërial music: Music in the air. ( Milton .) 5. Rising high in the air. upon rock Aerial , or in green secluded vale." Words worth Excursion, bk. iii. 6. Feeding on air. Aerial plants are those which absorb most of their food from the atmosphere. IIL Fig .: Ethereal, refined. "Some music is above me most music is beneath me. I like Beethoven or Mozart, or else some of the aërial compositions of the older Italians."-Cole ridge: Table Talk * Aërial acid : What was subsequently called carbonic acid, and now is termed carbonic dioxide. (Ure.) Aërial images : Images caused by the convergence of refracted and reflected rays of light, when these appear to be suspended in the air. Examples, the mirage and the images formed by a concave mirror. Aerial perspective: That higher artistic management of the perspective of a landscape 102 which not merely presents the various objects of the relative size which, by the laws of perspective, they must a ume when viewed from the observer's stand-point, but also succeeds in imparting effects as if they were seen with their outline softened by the action of air. Claude Lorraine was specially distinguished for this high artistic attainment. "These results have a direct bearing upon what artists call aërial perspective." - Tyndall : Frag. of Science, x. 284.