parachute light (parashot lit)

In pyrotechnics, a thin light bomb, the lower half of which is filled with a burning composition, and is attached to a small parachute which is confined in the upper half of the bomb. At a certain height in the air, by the ignition of a small bursting-charge, the upper half of the shell is blown off, the parachute is released, and the composition set on fire. The half-shell with its burning composition is kept floating in the air by the parachute. The parachute-light is used in war for observing the enemy's position and movements at night. Also called parachute - light ball. parachutist (par'a-shö-tist), n. [ An American Parachutist in England. Sci . Amer ., N. S., LIX. 231.