Trapeze


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

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Trapeze, or Trapese, a form of swing, consisting of a crossbar suspended by ropes and used for gymnastic exercises, acrobatic displays and the like. The name was so applied in French (trapeze) from the resemblance of the apparatus to a " trapezium " or irregular four-sided figure. The Greek Tpa1rE tov is a diminutive of Tp6. rq"a, a table, literally a four-footed or four-legged object, being a shortened form of rerpair€ -a (TETpa-, four, and 77--a, foot).