Definition of "aerial"

A soul [...] was first conceived to be an aerial, or an igneous substance, which animates the body during life, and makes its escape at death [...].

1782, Joseph Priestley, Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit, section I

the great Recompence in view, for which the most exalted Minds have with so much Alacrity, sacrifis'd their Quiet, Health, sensual Pleasures, and every inch of themselves, has never been any thing else but the Breath of Man, the Aerial Coyn of Praise.

1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees

In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6

In their dancing, clubbers were flamboyant. They experimented with new dance steps and improvisations, including risky maneuvers and aerials in which women were flipped into the air.

2002, Joseph A. Kotarba, John M. Johnson, Postmodern Existential Sociology, page 78

Hemment is on record as being the first person to film aerials of wildlife – he filmed a flock of wild ducks early in 1911, possibly on Rainey's Louisiana property.

2010, Jean Hartley, Africa's Big Five and Other Wildlife Filmmakers