Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To rappel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (mountaineering) a descent of a vertical cliff or wall made by using a doubled rope that is fixed to a higher point and wrapped around the body
  • verb lower oneself with a rope coiled around the body from a mountainside

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German abseilen, to descend at the end of a rope : ab, down, off; see ablaut + Seil, rope (from Middle High German, from Old High German).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From German abseilen, from ab- ("down") + seil ("rope").

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Examples

  • The abseil was the idea of Debs Hirst, who roped in colleagues Becky Brewster, Sue Rylands,

    News round-up 2009

  • The ropes are then threaded through a figure-eight device clamped into the harness, allowing kloofers to "abseil," or rappel, great distances at a controlled clip.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • Listening to the instructions from one of them, I had the impressions that this was their very first 'abseil' experience ever.

    * 2009

  • The coup de grace was plopping onto our backsides and sliding down a grassy bank to our first abseil point.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • The next abseil started with a gentle grass slope but then it dropped onto a monstrous mossy maw.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • "Here," said Mr. Kok, quickly handing me his abseil device.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • To get to it, one must abseil down through a plume of water, dropping into a dark hole.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • Wayne Du Plooy Kloofing enthusiast and private guide Teuns Kok begins the first abseil down a vertiginous waterfall of Ostrich Kloof, Volstruiskloof, South Africa.

    Up and Down Canyons 2011

  • By the end of abseil number two, my arms were tired, my clothes wet and my shins bleeding — only 13 more points to go.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

  • Wayne Du Plooy Weathering Heights: Kloofing enthusiast and private guide Teuns Kok beginning the first abseil down a vertiginous waterfall of Ostrich Kloof, South Africa.

    Between a Rock and a Waterfall Peter Wonacott 2011

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