helicopter vs plane

helicopter

noun
  • An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and typically having a smaller set of blades on its tail that stabilize the aircraft. 

  • A powered troweling machine with spinning blades used to spread concrete. 

  • A whirling trick performed with devil sticks. 

  • A dragonfly. 

  • The winged fruit of certain trees, such as ash, elm, and maple. 

verb
  • To rotate like a helicopter blade. 

  • To overprotect one's children, as a helicopter parent does. 

  • To travel by helicopter. 

  • To transport by helicopter. 

plane

noun
  • A roughly flat, thin, often moveable structure used to create lateral force by the flow of air or water over its surface, found on aircraft, submarines, etc. (Compare wing, airfoil, hydrofoil.) 

  • A deciduous tree of the genus Platanus. 

  • A level of existence or development. 

  • An imaginary plane which divides the body into two portions. 

  • A sycamore. 

  • Any of 17 designated ranges of 2¹⁶ (65,536) sequential code points each. 

  • A level or flat surface. 

  • An airplane; an aeroplane. 

  • The butterfly Bindahara phocides, family Lycaenidae, of Asia and Australasia. 

  • A tool for smoothing wood by removing thin layers from the surface. 

  • Any of various nymphalid butterflies, of various genera, having a slow gliding flight. 

  • A flat surface extending infinitely in all directions (e.g. horizontal or vertical plane). 

verb
  • To glide or soar. 

  • To smooth (wood) with a plane. 

  • To move in a way that lifts the bow out of the water. 

adj
  • Of a surface: flat or level. 

How often have the words helicopter and plane occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )