climb
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Etymology
From Middle English climben, 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”). Cognate with West Frisian klimme (“to climb”), Dutch klimmen (“to climb”), German klimmen (“to climb”), Old Norse klembra (“to squeeze”), Icelandic klifra (“to climb”). Related to clamber. See also clay, glue.
Pronunciation
Verb
climb (third-person singular simple present climbs, present participle climbing, simple past climbed or (archaic) clomb, past participle climbed or (archaic) clumb)
- (intransitive) To ascend; rise; to go up.
- Prices climbed steeply.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day.
- 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:
- 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.
- 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:
- After Bridge of Orchy, the line climbs steeply into the wild country of Rannoch Moor. The railway builders chose a different route across the moor from the road - we are completely on our own up here.
- (transitive) To mount; to move upwards on.
- climbing a tree
- They climbed the mountain.
- 2023 July 6, Pamela Paul, “What’s the Story With Colleen Hoover?”, in The New York Times:
- Other Hooverian devices become familiar too. Characters often have names that are so obscure they barely seem like real names (Ryle, Lowen, Chastin, Atlas, Crew) but might wind up climbing the baby name list — now you know why — in a few years’ time.
- (transitive) To scale; to get to the top of something.
- (transitive) To move (especially up and down something) by gripping with the hands and using the feet.
- My legs were so stiff and my arms so sore that this morning barely couldclimb out of bed.
- 1900, James Frazer, The Golden Bough Chapter 65:
- A priest clad in a white robe climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloth.
- 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
- She thought she must have been mistaken at first, for none of the scarecrows in Kansas ever wink; but presently the figure nodded its head to her in a friendly way. Then she climbed down from the fence and walked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.
- 2008, Tony Atkins, Dragonhawk - the Turning:
- Cutter and Bolan climbed around the furniture and piled into the back of the truck.
- (intransitive) To practise the sport of climbing.
- (intransitive) To jump high.
- To move to a higher position on the social ladder.
- To move to a higher position on a chart, table, society, etc.
- The hit song has climbed to the number one spot.
- (botany) Of plants, to grow upwards by clinging to something.
Usage notes
In the past, the forms clomb and clumb were encountered as simple past and past participle forms; these forms are now archaic or dialectal.
Conjugation
Synonyms
(get to the top of): scale
Derived terms
Terms derived from climb (verb)
- ants climbing a tree
- bullet climb
- climbability
- climbable
- climb down
- climb down someone's throat
- climber
- climbing gourami
- climbing lane
- climbing maidenhair fern
- climbing nightshade
- climbing perch
- climb into
- climb on the bandwagon
- climb the ladder
- climb the walls
- climb up
- declimb
- free-climb
- go climb a tree
- have a mountain to climb
- lead climb
- monkey-no-climb
- mountain to climb
- overclimb
- rock-climb
- step climb
- unclimbed
- upclimb
Translations
to ascend, to go up
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to mount, to move upwards on
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to scale
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to move by using the hands and feet
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to practice the sport of climbing
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of plants: to grow upwards by clinging to something
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
climb (plural climbs)
- An act of climbing.
- 2007, Nigel Shepherd, Complete Guide to Rope Techniques:
- Make sure that you keep checking to see that everything remains safe throughout the climb.
- The act of getting to somewhere more elevated.
- 1999, B. Keith Jones, The Roomie Do Me Blues:
- 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.
- An effort of moving upward.
Derived terms
Translations
an act of climbing
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Derived terms
derived from noun or verb (unsorted)
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Etymology
Pseudo-anglicism; transferred sense from English climb.
Pronunciation
Noun
climb m (usually invariable, plural climbs)
- (aviation) variometer, rate-of-climb indicator
- Synonym: variometro
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