posture-mastern.
/ˈpɒstʃəˌmɑːstə/, /ˈpɒstʃəˌmastə/, U.S. /ˈpɑstʃərˌmæstər/ 1. A master of the art of posturing; an expert in assuming unusual postures or attitudes of the body; esp. an acrobat or contortionist. Also figurative. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > acrobatic performance > [noun] > acrobat > contortionist
posture-master1691
posture-maker1711
posture man1711
posture girl?1757
contortionist1859
distortionist1864
kinker1926
1691 Satyr against French Ep. A ij b Clark, the Posture-master, never knew half so many Distortions of Body, as they do.
1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 226 The..posture-master, rope-dancer and equilibrist.
1791 R. Sheridan in Parl. Hist. 29 213 The offspring of the immortal Chatham, intriguing in all the courts of Europe, and setting himself up as the great posture-master of the balance of power.
1830 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. & Witchcraft viii. 234 Tricks, not much different from those exhibited by expert posture-masters of the present day.
1891 O. Wilde House of Pomegranates 36 A French posture-master performed upon the tight rope.
2003 Times (Nexis) 25 Oct. 31 His series [of portraits] includes Clark, The English Posture Master (in a complex yogic pose imitated by his monkey).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > gymnastics > exercise > [noun] > specific systems > teacher or exponent
posture-master1712
posture-maker1852
jogger1968
survivalist1982
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 305. ¶9 Delivered into the Hands of their second Instructor, who is a kind of Posture-Master. ¶This Artist is to teach them how to nod judiciously, to shrug up their Shoulders in a dubious Case [etc.].
1823 E. J. Trelawny in Greece & Rome (1980) 27 98 Death, like sleep, is a strange posture-master.
1854 R. W. Emerson Lett. & Social Aims in Wks. (1906) III. 174 Nature is the best posture-master.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1691