climb
//ˈklaɪ̯m//
Forms
- present (v1)
- climb
- past (v2)
- climbed
- past participle (v3)
- climbed
- present participle
- climbing
- 3rd person singular
- climbs
- Plural
- climbs
Definitions
1.To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending).
2.(literally or figuratively): To ascend; rise; to go up.
- The hit song has climbed to the number one spot.
- People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
- So we continue climbing to the saddle of the Kleine Scheidegg, where ahead there comes into view the wide expanse of the Grindelwald valley, backed by the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn.
3.To mount; to move upwards on.
4.To scale; to get to the top of something.
- He is a curly-haired schoolboy barely in his teens, but 13-year-old Jordan Romero from California has become the youngest person to climb Mount Everest.
1.The act of getting to somewhere more elevated.
- I guess the room wasn't so bad, except for the climb to get there. The stairs were destined to be a serious health hazard.
- The Mur de Péguère is a savage little climb, its last four kilometres a narrow tunnel of trees and excited spectators urging on the straining riders.
2.An effort of moving upward.
- An extended climb in Treasury yields risks exacerbating the pressures that have dogged a broad array of assets in recent months.
- After a decade of prosperity, millions of Asians are likely to be pushed into poverty, and the climb out of poverty will stall for millions of others.
3.An act of climbing.
- Make sure that you keep checking to see that everything remains safe throughout the climb.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1978
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Common
Etymology
From Middle English climben, clymben, from Old English climban (“to climb”), from Proto-West Germanic *klimban, from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną (“to climb, go up by clinging”), believed to be a nasalised variant of Proto-Germanic *klibaną, *klibāną (“to stick, cleave”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to stick”).