Meaning

noun a low flat-bottomed freight car with fixed sides but no roof

noun long narrow flat-bottomed boat propelled by sculling; traditionally used on canals of Venice

noun the compartment that is suspended from an airship and that carries personnel and the cargo and the power plant

originBorrowed from Italian gondola, from Venetan góndoƚa. Possibly from Byzantine Greek κοντοῦρα (kontoûra, “cutter, kind of ship”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0