trapeze
Americannoun
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an apparatus, used in gymnastics and acrobatics, consisting of a short horizontal bar attached to the ends of two suspended ropes.
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(on a small sailboat) a device by which a crew member can be suspended almost completely outboard while hiking.
noun
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a free-swinging bar attached to two ropes, used by circus acrobats, etc
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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
Etymology
Origin of trapeze
1860–65; < French, special use of trapèze trapezium
Explanation
If you've been to the circus, you've probably seen a trapeze, a swing-like bar on ropes hanging high in the air. Trapeze performers do daring tricks while swinging far above the ground. Acrobats and trapeze artists are trained to dangle and flip and leap from trapeze to trapeze as they swing dozens of feet above the ground. The trapeze was invented in 1859 by a French performer named Jules Leotard. The word trapeze comes from the Latin word trapezium, a geometrical four-sided figure that is mimicked by the shape made by the ceiling, ropes, and bar in a trapeze.
Vocabulary lists containing trapeze
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The agents booked them a trapeze class for early April.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
The circus is still in town, but the trapeze artists, tightrope walkers and other eye-catching acts are no more.
From BBC • Feb. 23, 2025
Around 20 jugglers, trapeze artists and concession stand workers are filtering into the big top that the majestic Circus Vargas uses to perform across 25 California cities 11 months out of the year.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2024
Navigating this period as a journalist and sole parent feels like being a trapeze artist without a net—each day teetering on the edge of madness.
From Salon • Jul. 17, 2024
“Circus, yes. Flying, no. The trapeze stays still. I move around it. It’s just physics, really. But it lets me be . . . me.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
