English Dictionary

trial balloon

IPA（発音記号）

/ˌtɹaɪəl bəˈluːn/

名詞

歴史的 比喩的用法 慣用表現

(aeronautics, historical) A small balloon released into the sky to determine the direction and tendency of winds in the upper air before a manned ascent in a larger balloon; a ballon d'essai.

日本語の意味

（航空史における用語）有人の大気球を用いた飛行の前に、上層大気の風向や風勢を確認するために放たれる、小型の試験用気球。

Before attempting the ascent, the aeronauts released a trial balloon to gauge the upper-air winds.

上昇を試みる前に、気球乗りたちは高空の風向を測るために試験気球を放った。

意味（1）

(aeronautics, historical) A small balloon released into the sky to determine the direction and tendency of winds in the upper air before a manned ascent in a larger balloon; a ballon d'essai.

For many weeks in succession the little trial balloons thrown up to show the course of the wind were driven back upon the shores of France.

意味（2）

(idiomatic, figuratively) An idea, suggestion, or prospective action, product, etc., offered to an audience or group in order to test whether it generates acceptance or interest.

The originality of the plan and views of the author [Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent], and, above all, the perfect independence of its execution, are, according to the narrator in the Bulletin, the chief features of this new production; and the summary sketch of it which has been published, is (to use the phraseology of the same writer) as a kind of trial balloon, launched with the view of seeing how the wind sits for his great work.

trial balloons （ plural ）