steeplejack means A person whose job involves climbing tall structures like steeples in order to make repairs.
Why “steeplejack” is a great word
A person who repairs and maintains tall, freestanding vertical structures such as steeples, smokestacks, and lighthouses by ascending them by hand. From steeple (a tall tower on a building, often a church) + jack (a man or laborer, used in occupational names); first recorded in use around 1847–1881. Unlike a roofer, who is largely confined to angled planes defined by eaves and ridges, or an ironworker, who assembles skeletal steel frameworks from within their evolving cage, the steeplejack performs his solitary work on the skin of the world—a human fly scaling the sheer, weathered face of a brick spire, a tiny silhouette inching along the rusted lip of a factory chimney, a hand testing the stability of a rain-loosened gargoyle. He is a craftsman of the vertical, his quiet work a form of love for the forgotten skyline.
Etymology
From steeple + jack.
noun
- A person whose job involves climbing tall structures like steeples in order to make repairs.e.g.“Whether it's a rigger or steeple jack or window washer or any person who has strong nerves and a skilled body.” — 1958, Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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