Specifically the traditional Venetian rowing boat. Used in travel contexts or when referring to Venice.
from Italian
I rode a gondola in Venice.
gondola (airship, balloon basket); cabin (cable car, ski lift); car (elevator)
Extended use for any suspended passenger compartment: hot-air balloon basket, cable car cabin, ski lift chair, or elevator car.
We take the gondola lift to the top of the mountain.
We admired the view from the hot-air balloon's gondola.
scaffold (building); display shelf (shop)
Specialized use in construction for a suspended scaffold, or in retail for a gondola-style display shelf. Less common than the vehicle senses.
Workers are inspecting the exterior wall from a suspended scaffold.
New products were arranged on the shop's display gondola.
You take a gondola cabin up to the mountaintop.
When we got off the gondola, a snowy landscape spread out before us.
The workers are cleaning the windows from a suspended scaffold.