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dirigible :
A large cigar-shaped airship filled with a lighter-than-air gas such as helium or hydrogen. A dirigible differs from a balloon in that it is powered with an engine and can be steered. IT is also called a zeppelin after its pioneer, Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917). In 1937, the German dirigible, Hindenburg, filled with flammable hydrogen, was destroyed by fire. Since that time, dirigibles use nonflammable helium. [Dirigible comes from a Latin word meaning “steerable” or “guidable.”]