steeplejack

[prettygoodword]

steeplejack (STEE-puhl-jak) - n., a person who climbs steeples, smokestacks, or other towers, to build, paint, repair, or clean them.


Such as high-rise window-washers:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

Steeplejacks may do their work on ropes, either single-seat or a small platform, or using scaffolding. So named in the time when church steeples were the most common tall structures -- the -jack part comes from English usage of the common name to mean a person.

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

Would telephone and utility lineworkers count?

[prettygoodword]

Good question -- I've not been able to track down anyone using steeplejack for them, but I'm not exactly the best searcher. Linemen or lineworkers seem the most common term.

[full_metal_ox]

“And I need you more than want you/And I want you for all time.” (Thank you, Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell, for celebrating that essential and dangerous job.)