cliff dweller

noun

1. (usually initial capital letter),  a member of a prehistoric people of the southwestern U.S., who were ancestors of the Pueblo Indians and built shelters in caves or on the ledges of cliffs.

2. a person who lives in an apartment house, especially in a large city.

Other Word Forms

• cliff dwelling noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cliff dweller¹

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — There’s a mountain range rising in the middle of Yale University Art Gallery, with populations of cliff dwellers circling its heights.

Read more on New York Times

“They seem really less common in the track fossil record, maybe because they were walkers but also climbers or cliff dwellers” like some seabirds today, Mazin says.

Read more on Scientific American

Chaco’s structures were built in the open canyon bottoms, but the people of Mesa Verde were largely cliff dwellers, likely as a way to fend off Apache, Ute and other raiders.

Read more on New York Times

In Polynesia, in Asia, among the cliff dwellers of the Southwest its explorers and collectors are at work.

Read more on New York Times

Could they tell her anything of the cliff dwellers?

Read more on Project Gutenberg