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Etymology and origin of the English word blimp

Pronunciation

blimp1 small airship

Confidence
Disputed
First attested
1916 Daily Mirror

Etymology

The word for the small airship is of uncertain and disputed origin.[2][3][4][5] The OED suggests that it may be imitative, comparing blob, blip and lump,[2] and reports the claim that it imitates the sound made by flicking an airship's taut envelope with a finger, one witness dating such an occasion to 5 December 1915, when Lieutenant A. D. Cunningham did it while inspecting an airship at Capel le Ferne.[2] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and the American Heritage Dictionary also favour this imitative explanation.[6][7] The other common explanation, which goes back to 1919, takes it from a designation “Type B-limp”, a limp airship without a rigid frame as against “Type A-rigid”, and so from limp;[4][3][8][9][10][11] Barnhart finds this the most convincing,[3] but Etymonline notes that references are wanting, and the OED finds no historical evidence for it.[4][2] Partridge took it as a blend of bloody and limp, coined perhaps in 1915 by Horace Shortt,[12] whom Barnhart also mentions as the coiner,[3] but the OED finds no support for the "bloody limp" story either.[2] Weekley called it one of the weird coinages of the airmen.[13][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small non-rigid airship: 1916, in the Daily Mirror of 25 January.[2][3][4][9]

Semantic evolution

The word named the small non-rigid airships of the First World War, and was extended to large tethered balloons such as barrage balloons.[2][8][11] Their rotund shape led to its use for a very fat person, originally in North America;[2][14] in 1920s American slang it was also a disparaging word for a young woman, now rare.[2] From 1929, at first in film-making, it was a soundproof cover for a camera, which kept the noise of the mechanism off the soundtrack.[2][8][9][5] Green's Dictionary of Slang also records a short-lived American verb blimp, to fail or blunder (1919).[14]

Timeline

  • 1916 – a small non-rigid airship.[2][3][4][9]
  • 1919 – a very fat person, in a syndicated column by A. Baer.[14] The OED's first record is from 1920.[2]
  • 1926 – US slang, a young woman (disparaging).[2]
  • 1929 – a soundproof cover for a film camera.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small non-rigid airship: A blimp hung over the racecourse all afternoon.[15][9][8][2]
  2. A large tethered balloon, such as a barrage balloon.[8][2][5]
  3. (informal, disparaging) A very fat person.[9][2][14]
  4. A soundproof housing for a film camera.[9][8][2][5]

Verb

  1. blimp out (slang): to become very fat.[8]

blimp2 pompous reactionary

Confidence
Established
Formation
Eponym
First attested
1934 Evening Standard

Etymology

The word for the pompous reactionary comes from the name of Colonel Blimp, a cartoon character created by the New Zealand-born cartoonist David Low (1891–1963): a rotund, pompous retired British army officer who aired reactionary views and hated new ideas.[2][7][8][9][11] Colonel Blimp first appeared on 21 April 1934 in Low's Topical Budget, a weekly satirical cartoon feature in the “Evening Standard”.[2] His name was perhaps suggested by blimp1,[2] whose rotund flaccidity, according to Ayto, put it into Low's mind.[11][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The type of person embodied in Colonel Blimp, with old-fashioned or reactionary opinions and a pompous manner: 1934, in the “Evening Standard” of 28 May.[2]

Semantic evolution

The public recognised Low's character as an all too common type, and his name became a generic one,[11] used from 1935 of any old-fashioned, pompous or reactionary person, at first especially an old army officer.[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang notes that the word grew still more popular with Powell and Pressburger's film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943).[14] It soon produced the derivatives blimpish (1938), blimpery (1940) and blimpishness (1941).[2][11]

Timeline

  • 1934 – allusively, the type of person embodied in Colonel Blimp.[2]
  • 1935 – an old-fashioned, pompous or reactionary person, at first an old army officer.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly British) A pompous, complacent and reactionary person, especially an elderly military officer; also called Colonel Blimp.[8][9][15][2]

Word family

  • blimpish
  • blimpery
  • blimpishness

Usage notes

In the sense of a reactionary the word is often written with a capital, Blimp.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Blimp.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/blimp. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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