Airbusses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Commercial aircraft produced by a leading European manufacturer; large passenger airplanes designed for long-distance air travel; types of planes known for their wide bodies and multiple engines
2. Passenger jets created by a major aerospace company known for manufacturing large, twin-aisle planes for airlines; commercial flying vehicles commonly used for transporting numerous travelers; aircraft designed for scheduled airline service across domestic and international routes
3. Large-scale airplanes built by a prominent aviation firm specializing in wide-body, multi-engine types; vehicles used primarily for carrying passengers on airlines; aerospace products notable for their capacity and range in civil aviation contexts

Etymology: "Airbusses" is the plural of "airbus," a word formed by simply joining "air" and "bus." The bus half comes from the Latin "omnibus," meaning "for all," which was shortened in the nineteenth century to "bus" for the public vehicles that carried passengers along city streets. Once aircraft began carrying large numbers of passengers, the same kind of short, familiar compound was a natural way to name them: an air-going equivalent of the city bus. The word's meaning has since narrowed. In its general sense, "airbus" could describe any large passenger aircraft, but it became most closely associated with the products of the European manufacturer Airbus, whose wide-body jets are its best-known examples. The plural form simply follows the regular English rule for words ending in "s," which takes "-es," giving "airbusses" as the plural in the style of "buses."

Synonyms: aircraft, planes, jets, airliners, passenger planes