trapeze

[ tra-peez or, especially British, truh- ]

/ træˈpiz or, especially British, trə- /

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See synonyms for trapeze on Thesaurus.com

noun

an apparatus, used in gymnastics and acrobatics, consisting of a short horizontal bar attached to the ends of two suspended ropes.

(on a small sailboat) a device by which a crew member can be suspended almost completely outboard while hiking.

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Origin of trapeze

1860–65; <French, special use of trapèzetrapezium

Words nearby trapeze

trap cut, trapdoor, trapdoor function, trap-door spider, trapes, trapeze, trapeze artist, trapeziform, trapezium, trapezius, trapezohedron

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use trapeze in a sentence

He hops on a trapeze—it’s a metaphor for facing fear—talks to a rider who lost part of his leg in a motorcycle accident, and concludes, “Well, I think, everybody’s gotta find their own way of managing being scared.”
Jeff Goldblum on riding motorcycles—and feeling fear|Rob Verger|January 20, 2022|Popular-Science
Freed from her guitar, but wearing counterintuitive pumps, she leaned back like a trapeze artist.
Is Bigger Better for St. Vincent?|David Yaffe|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Trapeze artists and those shot out of cannonballs would fall to their death.
We’re All Carnies Now: Why We Can’t Quit the Circus|Anthony Paletta|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For a hot minute, we had Mayor Bloomberg in a trapeze, but we lost him.
Oscars Host Neil Patrick Harris on His Best and Worst Emcee Moments (VIDEO)|Neil Patrick Harris|October 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Trapeze tragedy The St. Louis Trapeze Incident occurred in 1872.
Thrills and Too Many Spills: The Dangers of the Circus|Marina Watts|May 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The miner's job would be as much beyond my power as it would be to perform on a flying trapeze or to win the Grand National.
Thatcher's Economic Legacy|Megan McArdle|April 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
"—And right there is where you would miss the trapeze bar by a foot, and no net under you," interrupted Davy disgustedly.
David Lannarck, Midget|George S. Harney
However, the Prince pointed out to me the girl on the trapeze, the same one you had admired in Rome.
Polly the Pagan|Isabel Anderson
In the loft a boy learns to turn flip-flops, and with a lariat rope he can make a trapeze.
Bill's School and Mine|William Suddards Franklin
Then if the bar be grasped and the body thrown forward, the trapeze, the arms, and the body will form the segment of a circle.
Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XV., No. 388, June 9, 1883|Various
As I sat on the trapeze bar there was that boy forty feet above me kicking and yelling.
Careers of Danger and Daring|Cleveland Moffett

British Dictionary definitions for trapeze

trapeze

/ (trəˈpiːz) /

noun

a free-swinging bar attached to two ropes, used by circus acrobats, etc

a sling like a bosun's chair at one end of a line attached to the masthead of a light racing sailing boat, used in sitting out

Word Origin for trapeze

C19: from French trapèze, from New Latin; see trapezium

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

trapeze

Origin of trapeze

Words nearby trapeze

Words related to trapeze

How to use trapeze in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for trapeze

Word Origin for trapeze