cliff dweller

noun

(usually initial capital letter) a member of a prehistoric people of the southwestern U.S., who were ancestors of the Pueblo Indians and built shelters in caves or on the ledges of cliffs.

a person who lives in an apartment house, especially in a large city.

Origin of cliff dweller

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

OTHER WORDS FROM cliff dweller

cliff dwelling, noun

Words nearby cliff dweller

clientage, clientele, clifden nonpareil, cliff, cliff brake, cliff dweller, cliff swallow, cliff-hang, cliff-hanging, cliffhanger, clifford

Example sentences from the Web for cliff dweller

Is it possible that at this place some Cliff-Dweller scouts encountered their advancing foe from the north and opened hostilities?

Wild Life on the Rockies |Enos A. Mills
In the West this swallow is wholly a cliff-dweller, but it has learned to modify its home in different localities.

Bird Neighbors |Neltje Blanchan
The designs are similar to those found on cliff-dweller pottery.

Mesa Verde National Park |Anonymous
I remember once when we were having dinner somewhere you kept asking me about the Cliff-Dweller ruins.

Song of the Lark |Willa Cather

A square figure with interior parallel squares extending to the center is also found, as elsewhere, in cliff-dweller pictography.

Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 |Jesse Walter Fewkes