funambulistn.
/fjᵿˈnambjᵿlɪst/, U.S. /fjuˈnæmbjələst/ A person who walks or performs on a rope stretched between two points at some height above the ground; a tightrope walker. Also figurative.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > acrobatic performance > [noun] > acrobat > rope-walker or dancer
walker on ropes1542
funambulo1605
funambulus1607
funambulant1608
rope-walker1611
rope-dancer1627
funambulator1658
funambuler1659
funambule1697
wire dancer1752
equilibrist1760
wire-walker1762
funambulist1789
schoenobatist1821
tightrope dancer1824
aerialist1869
tightrope walker1869
wire-worker1918
blondin1934
1789 W. P. Carey Both Sides of Gutter 50 A classical funambulist may appear a novelty in the walks of literature.
1793 J. Beresford in W. Roberts Looker-on No. 77. 610 What man will withhold from the funambulist the praise of Justice, who considers his inflexible uprightness?
1825 R. Heber Jrnl. 10 Jan. in Narr. Journey Upper Provinces India (1828) I. xx. 584 Tricks which proved him to be a funambulist of considerable merit.
1847 T. De Quincey Protestantism in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 760/1 That would be a sad task for the most skilful of funambulists or theological tumblers.
1896 Daily News 1 Sept. 3 A Funambulist is a gentleman who..on a rope..turns sommersaults, leaps thro' a ring, and plays on a fiddle while whirling like a Catharine wheel.
1938 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Feb. 108/2 When a funambulist practises..on the tight-rope!
1992 P. Berton Niagara (1994) iv. iii. 122 With the funambulists trotting high above the churning rapids on tightropes, could the Falls any longer be called sublime?
2004 S. Hall Electric Michelangelo 269 She was a trained funambulist and she set up a flatrope between two trees in the park to practise.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1789