an acrobat who performs on a trapeze, high wire, etc.
aerialist in American English
(ˈɛəriəlɪst, eiˈɪəriə-)
noun
1.
a trapeze artist
2. slang
a burglar who gains entrance to a building or apartment by leaping from rooftop to rooftop, sliding down ropes, or the like
Word origin
[1900–05; aerial + -ist]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cathode-ray tube, clone, decompression, elder statesman, hormone-ist is a suffix of nouns, often corresponding to verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism, that denote a person who practices or is concerned with something, or holds certainprinciples, doctrines, etc. Other words that use the affix -ist include: dramatist, machinist, novelist, realist, socialist
Examples of 'aerialist' in a sentence
aerialist
How did you end up as an aerialist?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
There's also an aerialist whose gently swooping movements bring the opera to an end.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It's a devised piece (the art-world speak for 'not yet finished') with musicians and an aerialist.