rope-dancern.

1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. iii. iv. 436 I reckon not Iuglers, and Fidlers, and Tumblers, and Bearewards, and Rope-dancers, and Rymers, and the rest of that rabble.

1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Dædalus ii. vii It [petaminaria] is probably derived from the Greek word πετασθαι, which signifies to Fly, and may refer to such kind of Rope-Dancers.

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 33 Those usually that have been Rope-dancers in the Schools, oft-times prove Jack-puddings in the Pulpit.

1707 W. Hope New Method Fencing iii. 35 The surprising..Feats of Activity, performed by..Rope-Dancers, and Tumblers.

1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 226 Posture-master, rope-dancer and equilibrist.

1822 W. Hazlitt Table-talk I. i. 18 To balance himself for any time in the same position the rope-dancer must strain every nerve.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 102 All who live by amusing the leisure of others, from the painter and the comic poet, down to the rope-dancer.

1923 M. Moore Let. 5 May in Sel. Lett. (1997) 197 As a welcome contrast to Miss Leitzel, there was a new rope dancer, Betty Beeson, ‘the madcap of the wire’ in swansdown and blue chiffon.

1999 R. Tremain Music & Silence (2000) iii. 381 And then a shout echoes round the courtyard and is carried inside the palace, and is repeated along corridors and bursts forth into chamber after chamber: ‘The rope dancers have arrived!’