stepladder

[step-lad-er]

noun

a ladder having flat steps or treads in place of rungs.

any ladder, especially a tall one with a hinged frame opening up to form four supporting legs.

Nearby words

Origin of stepladder

First recorded in 1745–55; step + ladder

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stepladder

"I wonder if we couldn't bring in a stepladder for her," murmured the Skeptic in my ear.
A Court of Inquiry|Grace S. Richmond
She was taking the books2 from the lowest shelf, as she was afraid to climb the stepladder.
Peggy in Her Blue Frock|Eliza Orne White
Gissing, wise by now, knew that after a forager the mosquito always retires to the ceiling, so he kept a stepladder in the room.
Where the Blue Begins|Christopher Morley
There on the floor was the packing-case, there on the floor was a table to sit at, there against the wall stood a stepladder.
Angela's Business|Henry Sydnor Harrison

The picture is so large that she was obliged to use a stepladder to reach some parts of it.
Brooks's Readers, Third Year|Stratton D. Brooks

British Dictionary definitions for stepladder

stepladder

noun

a folding portable ladder that is made of broad flat steps fixed to a supporting frame hinged at the top to another supporting frame

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

Word Origin and History for stepladder

stepladder

one with steps instead of rungs, 1751, from step (n.) + ladder.