blondinn.
/ˈblɒndɪn/, U.S. /ˈblɑndən/ A tightrope, a cable-way. Also figurative, a tightrope walker. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > acrobatic performance > [noun] > rope-walking or dancing > rope or wire
ropeeOE
low rope?c1635
slack-rope1749
slack wire1753
tightrope1801
blondin1863
high wire1863
slackline2002
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle travelling on or by cable > [noun] > cableway or cable railway
rope-way1665
aerial railway1839
rope railway1849
tramway1872
funicular railway1874
suspension-railway1875
cable-road1882
telpher line1884
cable-railroad1887
cable-railway1887
cable tramway1887
funiculaire1888
funicular1888
cable-way1899
aerial tramway1904
blondin1906
teleferic1916
mono-cable1922
téléphérique1922
Seilbahn1963
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
1863 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 15 Aug. 588/2 An appalling accident happened at the People's Park near Birmingham..the enterprising Directors..hanging the Blondin rope as high as they possibly could hang it.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 27 Mar. 5/2 Scores of cranes, blondin and other transporters..are continually at work.
1934 Discovery Oct. 299/2 A hair-raising trip in the ‘Blondin’ carrier down to the quarry face.
1934 Ess. & Stud. 19 123 The tight-rope of serio-comic wit from which so many literary Blondins have been ignominiously precipitated.
1937 Nature 21 Aug. 312/2 The crossings of the Tigris and the Euphrates had to be made by ‘Blondins’ (overhead cable ways).
1958 Times 3 Dec. 20/2 Hoppers of concrete being carried by blondin cables to each section [of a dam] in turn.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1863