glider

Everyday

1. A glider is a light aircraft with long wings and no engine that flies by riding on air currents. tree →
2. A glider is also any thing or animal that glides, like a paper glider or a sugar glider (a small flying possum). tree →
3. (UK) A glider is a garden swing seat that moves smoothly back and forth (also in the US, a glider chair). tree →

In the lessons

In science and design and technology lessons, pupils make paper or balsa gliders to test wing shapes, weight and air resistance (forces: lift, drag, gravity). Gliders are pulled into the air by a plane or a winch, then slowly come down while rising on warm air (thermals). In nature, sugar gliders, flying squirrels and colugos glide between trees. Phrases: «paper glider», «hang glider», «sugar glider», «launch a glider».

Examples

• We made paper gliders and tested which flew furthest. tree →
• A glider has no engine. tree →
• The glider rose on warm air above the hills. tree →
• A sugar glider can glide from tree to tree. tree →
• The hang glider jumped off the cliff and floated over the beach. tree →
• Adding a paperclip to the nose made my glider fly better. tree →

Note

Plural: «gliders». A glider still falls slowly overall; it rises only when the air under it rises. A «hang glider» is a different, simpler kind where the pilot hangs under a wing.