Large fabric canopies attached to people or cargo that slow falling by catching air, used for safe descent from aircraft.
From French 'parachute,' combining 'para-' (against, protection from) and 'chute' (fall). The word was invented in the late 1700s when the device was first designed.
The first parachute test happened with a dog in 1793, and parachutes weren't widely trusted until World War II soldiers used them successfully—now skydivers jump from planes as a sport, but the device was born from a desperate need to escape falling aircraft.
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