Definition of "abseiling"

He pictured the abseiling, literally a flight down the mountain on the doubled cord of his long rope, and he thought that those hours speeding down the cliffs would be the finest of his life.

1977, The New Yorker, page 33

Greenpeace offers its supporters the chance to fund brave and glamorous adventures (inflatables pitted against whalers; abseilings against smokestacks), and in exchange to wear something very like the medieval pilgrim's token: to put a rainbow sticker in their car windows.

1995, New Scientist - Volume 145, page 40

Moderate ravines, with some drops requiring rope or prolonged swims, include Oscuros de Balce/s, Estrechos de Balce/s and Gorgoncho/n, all close to Bierge, while experts-only abysses above Rodellar include Gorgas Negras, Otin and Mascu/n Superior, all involving thirty-metre abseilings and strenuous clambering.

2004, Marc Dubin, The Rough Guide to the Pyrenees, page 464

Between that and the abseiling, I think I left enough skin behind on those rocks to cover an entire second person.

2013, Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, page 242