Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for escalade. Search instead for escalades.
Synonyms

escalade

American  
[es-kuh-leyd, -lahd, es-kuh-leyd, -lahd] / ˌɛs kəˈleɪd, -ˈlɑd, ˈɛs kəˌleɪd, -ˌlɑd /

noun

  1. a scaling or mounting by means of ladders, especially in an assault upon a fortified place.

verb (used with object)

escaladed, escalading

  1. to mount, pass, or enter by means of ladders.

escalade British  
/ ˌɛskəˈleɪd /

noun

  1. an assault by the use of ladders, esp on a fortification

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to gain access to (a place) by the use of ladders

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • escalader noun

Etymology

Origin of escalade

1590–1600; < Middle French < Old Provençal *escalada, equivalent to escal ( ar ) to scale 3 + -ada -ade 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And three more squads of 'em missing, sir—looted, your honour's arternoon by means of escalade t'other side party-wall.

From Our Admirable Betty A Romance by Farnol, Jeffery

By this time the freebooters had won the drawbridge, and, displaying their colours on the edge of the ditch, demanded means for the escalade.

From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume III (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Thornbury, Walter

The assailants had no heavy artillery, nor any material for escalade; but they had money, and gold proved a better battering-train than lead.

From Roland Cashel Volume I (of II) by Lever, Charles James

Soissons, with its walls about 26 feet high, had complete immunity from escalade, and the damming of the Crise brook made it unassailable on the south.

From The Franco-German War of 1870-71 by Helmuth, Count

For escalade they used ladders fixed on wheeled platforms; but the most important means of attack against a high wall were the movable towers of wood.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various

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.