Obs. Pl. funambuli. [L.: see FUNAMBULE sb.] A rope-dancer.
1614. J. Melvill, Diary (1842), II. 487. I saw a funambulus, a Frenchman, play strang and incredible prattiks upon stented takell in the Palace-close befor the King, Quein, and haill court.
a. 1639. Wotton, in Reliq. (1651), 484. Walking not like a Funambulus upon a Cord, but upon the edge of a rasor.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., xxii. 240. Our Funambuli and Tumblers.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., vli. 239. [Spiders] will winde up the thred shorter till it is very straight, as the Funambuli strain their roaps, and then like them too, will get upon it, and run from one end to the other.
