skywalker

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English[edit]

Lewis Hine's photograph of a workman on the framework of the Empire State Building in New York City, New York, USA, c. 1941–1942

Etymology[edit]

sky +‎ walker.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

skywalker (plural skywalkers)

  1. (usually figuratively) One who walks in the sky.
    1. (specifically) A member of the Mohawk group of Native Americans; especially one who is or was involved in steelworking on tall buildings in New York City.
    2. (by extension from the previous) Any ironworker working at a height.
    3. One who walks along a skywalk or skyway.
      • 1983, Industrial Photography, volume 32, United Business Publications, page lxxiii:
        [] and help individual skywalkers feel at home in their new surroundings. Many times, Seitz said, pedestrians will feel ill at ease on a skywalk at first because they have lost their street corner orientation.
      • 1989 March, Greg Evans, “Conventional Wisdom”, in Cincinnati, volume 22, number 6, CM Media Inc., →ISSN, page 48:
        And if you notice an unusually litter-free skywalk, don’t presume that your fellow skywalkers have taken it upon themselves to give a hoot.
      • 1998, Gregory Wolfe, Sacred Passion: The Art of William Schickel, University of Notre Dame Press, page 104:
        Since the view from the skywalk opened onto a huge expanse of brick—an adjacent building had been torn down—officials from the city decided that a wall painting would provide a beautiful and stimulating sight for the skywalkers.