to go up or ascend, especially by using the hands and feet or feet only: to climb up a ladder.
to rise slowly by or as if by continued effort: The car laboriously climbed to the top of the mountain.
to ascend or rise: The plane climbed rapidly and we were soon at 35,000 feet. Temperatures climbed into the 80s yesterday.
to slope upward: The road climbs steeply up to the house.
to ascend by twining or by means of tendrils, adhesive tissues, etc., as a plant: The ivy climbed to the roof.
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.
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.
to go to the top of and over: The prisoners climbed the wall and escaped.
noun
a climbing; an ascent by climbing: It was a long climb to the top of the hill.
a place to be climbed: That peak is quite a climb.
Verb Phrases
climb down,
to descend, especially by using both hands and feet.
to retreat, as from an indefensible opinion or position: He was forced to climb down from his untenable position.
before 1000;Middle Englishclimben,Old Englishclimban; cognate with Dutch,Germanklimmen; akin to clamber
Related formsclimb·a·ble, adjectivehalf-climb·ing, adjectivenon·climb·a·ble, adjectivenon·climb·ing, adjectivere·climb, verb (used with object),re·climbed,re·climb·ing.un·climb·a·ble, adjectiveun·climbed, adjectiveun·climb·ing, adjectiveCan be confusedclimbclime
Synonym study
8. 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.
Old English climban "raise oneself using hands and feet; rise gradually, ascend; make an ascent of" (past tense clamb, past participle clumben, clumbe), from West Germanic *klimbanan "go up by clinging" (cf. Dutch klimmen "to climb," Old High German klimban, German klimmen). A strong verb in Old English, weak by 16c. Most other Germanic languages long ago dropped the -b. Meaning "to mount as if by climbing" is from mid-14c. Figurative sense of "rise slowly by effort" is from mid-13c. Related: Climbed; climbing.
n.
1580s, "act of climbing," from climb (v.). Meaning "an ascent by climbing" is from 1915, originally in aviation.
