Parachute

(păr'a-shoot.) [From Gr. para, against, and Fr. chute, a fall.] (Aerost.) A machine in the form of a large umbrella, intended to enable a person to descend from a balloon. While attached to the lower end of the balloon, it is closed, but it expands itself immediately when beginning to descend, on being liberated from that machine. [s. 683]