climb
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to go up or ascend, especially by using the hands and feet or feet only.
She climbed up the ladder.
- Antonyms:
- descend
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to rise slowly by or as if by continued effort.
The car climbed laboriously to the top of the mountain.
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to ascend or rise.
The plane climbed rapidly and we were soon at 35,000 feet.
Temperatures climbed into the 80s yesterday.
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to slope upward.
The road climbs steeply up to the house.
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(of a plant) to ascend by twining or by means of tendrils, adhesive tissues, etc..
The ivy climbed to the roof.
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to proceed or move by using the hands and feet, especially on an elevated place; crawl.
to climb along a branch;
to climb around on the roof.
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to ascend in prominence, fortune, etc..
From lowly beginnings he climbed to the highest office in the land.
verb (used with object)
-
to ascend, go up, or get to the top of, especially by the use of the hands and feet or feet alone or by continuous or strenuous effort.
to climb a rope;
to climb the stairs;
to climb a mountain.
- Antonyms:
- descend
-
to go to the top of and over.
The prisoners climbed the wall and escaped.
noun
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a climbing; an ascent by climbing.
It was a long climb to the top of the hill.
- Antonyms:
- descent
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a place to be climbed.
That peak is quite a climb.
verb phrase
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climb down
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to descend, especially by using both hands and feet.
She climbed down from the treehouse and went to wash up for supper.
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Chiefly British. to retreat from a policy, opinion, position in a debate, etc..
He climbed down from that argument once he saw that it was based on incorrect data.
-
-
climb the walls to become tense or frantic.
After a week stuck inside the house, the kids were climbing the walls.
verb
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to go up or ascend (stairs, a mountain, etc)
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(often foll by along) to progress with difficulty
to climb along a ledge
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to rise to a higher point or intensity
the temperature climbed
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to incline or slope upwards
the road began to climb
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to ascend in social position
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(of plants) to grow upwards by twining, using tendrils or suckers, etc
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informal (foll by into) to put (on) or get (into)
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to be a climber or mountaineer
noun
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the act or an instance of climbing
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a place or thing to be climbed, esp a route in mountaineering
Related Words
Climb, ascend, mount, scale imply a moving upward. To climb is to make one's way upward, often with effort: to climb a mountain. Ascend, in its literal meaning (“to go up”), is general, but it now usually suggests a gradual or stately movement, with or without effort, often to a considerable degree of altitude: to ascend the heights; to ascend the Himalayas. Mount may be interchangeable with ascend, but also suggests climbing on top of or astride of: to mount a platform, a horse. Scale, a more literary word, implies difficult or hazardous climbing up or over something: to scale a summit.
Other Word Forms
- climbable adjective
- half-climbing adjective
- nonclimbable adjective
- nonclimbing adjective
- reclimb verb (used with object)
- unclimbable adjective
- unclimbed adjective
- unclimbing adjective
Etymology
Origin of climb
First recorded before 1000; Middle English climben, Old English climban; cognate with Dutch, German klimmen; akin to clamber
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
