aerialist

Noun

aerialist (plural aerialists)

1. An acrobat performing high off the ground, defying a fall to earth, as on a trapeze or a tightrope.
   • […] I chanced once, when I called during the day, to meet at the rehearsal M’lle Clarisse, the aerialist […] I looked at her carefully, and I could not divest myself of the impression that she was, in spite of her compact and strongly built little frame, much too delicate and fragile a person to go...1879 December, Edward Dusseault, “Recollections of Other Days”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume 50, number 6, page 564
   • Of the two ways of making love, adultery must seem the safer, as the aerialist engaged in it swings to an eventual stop, or else lands in marriage itself which is strung out protectively under the highwire. Whereas a man failing in marriage has nothing to break the tumble.1959, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in The Tents of Wickedness, Boston: Little Brown, page 210
2. A specialist in aerials, a freestyle skiing discipline.
   • Abramenko, a top aerialist in freestyle skiing, a five-time Olympian and the country’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremony, garnered more attention after the event, when a photograph of his hug with a Russian rival was widely circulated.2022 March 4, John Branch, “He Won an Olympic Silver for Ukraine. Now He’s Hiding in a Kyiv Garage.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from...
3. (obsolete) One who operates a flying machine; a balloonist or aviator.
   • The balloon, however, having been torn in the lower part, both the cords and netting of the railing of the car broke, the wind again forced away the gentlemen from the tree they were strongly clasping; but with the assistance of a new, though last exertion, the aerialists had an opportunity of...1803, A Dictionary of the Wonders of Art, London: T. Hurst, entry “Aeronautics,” p. 32
   • The Frenchman, Paulhan, made several spectacular flights, but it is noticeable that while the American aerialists are less spectacular they are doing more to further the art of flying.1910 January 20, Homestead, volume 55, number 3, page 8
4. (obsolete, rare) A person whose knowledge of agriculture is purely academic and not derived from experience.
   • Book farmers, the aerialists of Marshal, are those who know agriculture only by reading about it.1825, John Claudius Loudon, An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Volume 2, p. 1133