high wire
7
6.6
- noun
:
cuerda floja
- She trained for years to master the art of walking on a high wire suspended high above the ground.
- a high wire act
- walking the high wire
- a high-wire artist
I just, I guess it all comes down to it's a high wire act, right?
- I just, I guess it all comes down to it's a high wire act, right?
Examples
-
I perform my first surprise, illegal high-wire walk.
-
The dome rose up to a blue and white striped peak where acrobats had once walked high wires, and trapeze artists had launched themselves out over the earth in daring somersaults.
Fiction book (1992) -
The man likes the high wire.
-
I heard about those amazing men and women who walk on thin air, the high wire walkers.
-
She had a high wire act in one of the Big Mac shows.
-
It will be the most glorious high-wire walk in history.
-
I'm doing a high-wire act here and I don't have a net.
Fiction book (1994) -
They were being asked to perform a high-wire act without a safety net, and they were the only farmers in the world who had to do so.
Academic text (2010) -
The performer carefully balanced on the high wire as the audience held their breath.
-
During the circus show, the acrobat dazzled everyone with his skillful act on the high wire.
Synonyms
26
4.1
A tightly stretched rope high above the ground that performers walk on
1
8.5
A strong cable stretched above the ground for moving people or things
Antonyms
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Morphology
high + wire
The meaning 'a tightrope fixed high above the ground' is directly and compositionally derived from 'high' (located far above the ground) + 'wire' (a thin metal strand), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer a wire that is high up. This follows a common noun-compounding pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, making it readily understandable at B1.
Etymology
High wire comes from the circus: a thin wire stretched very high above the ground for acrobats to walk on. Because of that clear picture, high wire names the dangerous 'tightrope act' and is often used to talk about a 'risky situation' where someone must balance carefully.