gondola

Meanings

1. A small long, narrow boat with a high prow and stern, propelled with a single oar, especially in Venice.
2. A hanging platform or car for transporting people or cargo.
3. An enclosed car attached to a cable mechanically lifted up the side of a mountain; an enclosed ski lift; a cable car.
4. The car or basket of a hot-air balloon, airship, zeppelin, etc.
5. The hanging cart in which a glass-cleaning worker stands to clean exterior glass on tall buildings.
6. That part of a transporter bridge that carries passengers, vehicles, along the length of the bridge span.
7. A type of open railway car with low sides, used to carry heavy freight such as crushed rock or steel.
8. A free-standing display unit in a supermarket or other retail store, where goods are shelved or hung on pegs or hooks for sale; An end bay; A parasite display.

1. To travel by gondola.

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian gondola, from Venetan góndoƚa. Possibly from Byzantine Greek κοντοῦρα (kontoûra, “cutter, kind of ship”).