Nacelle

The word Nacelle is derived from the Old French nacele, which means a small boat or dinghy, and was in turn derived from the Latin navicella. The term is commonly used in the worlds of aviation, nautical and spacecraft design, in order to refer to a covered housing, separate from the fuselage, which usually holds engines, fuel, or equipment. In some cases—most notably the WW2-era P-38 Lightning airplane—the cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle. The covering is typically shaped in an aerodynamic manner.

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In the world of ballooning, including that of airships, the nacelle is a suspended basket which contains machinery and passengers.

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The word "nacelle" is also used in science fiction to describe various parts of fictional starships, along with many other terms of naval origin. See warp drive.

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Old French: Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the langue d'oïl, the continuum of varieties of Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland during the period roughly from 1000 to 1300 A.D....

Boat: A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. Some boats are commonly carried by a ship or on land using trailers....

Dinghy: A dinghy is a small utility boat attached to a larger boat. Dinghies are rowboats, or have small outboard motors —some use a small sailing rig. Dinghies are necessary for any off-ship excursions from larger boats, outside of docking at suitably-sized ports or marinas....