Graf Zeppelin
- noun
:
Graf Zeppelin
- The Graf Zeppelin was famous for carrying passengers on its long-distance flights across the Atlantic.
Examples
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Many travelers dreamt of flying in the luxurious Graf Zeppelin, which was an engineering marvel of its time.
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The Graf Zeppelin, the second largest airship ever built, stopped here on its voyages around the world.
Academic text (2009) -
Traveling on the Graf Zeppelin offered a unique experience of air travel during the 1930s.
Synonyms
42
8.2
A large airship with a metal frame used to carry people and sometimes bombs in the early 1900s
21
5.6
A large steerable flying machine filled with a light gas like helium
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'zeppelin' clearly denotes a rigid airship, so a learner who knows that word will likely infer the referent is an airship. However, 'Graf' is a German title meaning 'count' and here marks a proper name (the airship named after Count Zeppelin), so the exact referent as the historical passenger airship is not fully predictable from the parts alone. Because the noun class is transparent but the naming/historical reference is not fully derivable, this is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Graf Zeppelin was named to honor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin; Graf is the German word for 'count' and Zeppelin was his last name because he built the first large airships. That's why Graf Zeppelin refers to a famous large German airship known for long passenger journeys.