airlift

Etymology

It is formed from English air + lift.^[2][3][4] Lift goes back to Old Norse lypta (“to raise”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apparently a lift powered by or working in the air: 1881, in W. D. Hay's 300 Years Hence, a rare sense now obsolete.^[2][5] The first established sense was a pumping device worked by compressed air, from 1893, usually written air-lift,^[2][3] as in air-lift pump.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, the transport of people or supplies by aircraft, especially in a military blockade or another emergency, is first quoted in the OED from 1943, in a Texas newspaper,^[2][5] the date Merriam-Webster also gives;^[6] Etymonline dates it to 1945,^[3] like Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1940–45.^[4] The verb followed in 1948 in the OED's record,^[2] 1946 in Merriam-Webster's^[6] and "by 1949" in Etymonline, which says that the word was popularized by the American and British supply flights in answer to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin.^[3] The verb is now also used of carrying a single person, such as an injured person rescued by helicopter.^[6][2]

Timeline

• 1881 – a lift powered by or working in the air (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1893 – a pumping device worked by compressed air.^[2][3]
• 1943 – the transport of troops, people or supplies by aircraft.^[2][6]
• 1948 – verb, to transport by air, especially in an emergency.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The transport of troops, passengers or supplies by aircraft, especially when routes on the ground are blocked: An airlift brought food to the cut-off villages.^[8][9][6][2]
2. A single flight of this kind.^[8][1]
3. (engineering) A pump worked by compressed air, usually written air-lift.^[2]

Verb

1. To transport by air, especially in an emergency or to or from a place that is otherwise hard to reach: The injured climber was airlifted to hospital.^[8][9][6][2]

Related words

• air
• lift

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins