Brewer's: Steeple-Jack

(A). A man who ascends a church spire to repair it. This is done by a series of short ladders, tied one to another as the man ascends, the topmost one being securely tied to the point of the spire. Not many men have nerve enough for the dangerous work of a steeple-Jack.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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