I. ˈladə(r) noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hlǣdder, hlǣder; akin to Middle Dutch lēder ladder, Old High German leitara ladder, Old Norse hlith swinging gate, Gothic hleithra hut, tent, and to Old English hlinian, hleonian to lean — more at lean (incline)
1.
a. : a usually portable structure for use in climbing up or down that consists commonly of two parallel sidepieces of wood, metal, or rope joined at short intervals by a series of crosspieces that serve as rests for the feet — see aerial ladder , extension ladder , stepladder
b. obsolete : the steps leading to a gallows
c. : a set of vertical or inclined steps on a ship : ship's stairway — see accommodation ladder ; compare companionway
2. : a means of rising or climbing : that by which one attains to a higher position or status
the only ladder is education in a technical school — Roger Burlingame
ladders used by the unscrupulously ambitious — T.H.Eliot
the societal organizations and the institutions that serve … as social ladders — Social Forces
the pathetic conviction that learning alone was the ladder to political power — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
— compare stepping-stone
3. : something that resembles or suggests a ladder in form or use: as
a. chiefly Britain : run 12a
b. : fish ladder
c. : conveyer 2a(6)
d. : a series of cross straps attached to the backs of venetian-blind tapes to support the slats
e. : backbone 5, ladder track
f. : a succession of gunfire salvos fired with uniform differences in range to determine the proper range for achieving hits
g. : a cultivating implement of India resembling a harrow
4. : a series of usually ascending steps or stages : a scheme of comparative rank or order : scale
trying to better his position on the social ladder
ranked objectively in a ladder of economic desirability — Journal of Accountancy
a toehold on the academic ladder — Lynn White
slipped down the power ladder — C.L.Sulzberger
a world whose standards appear to be at the bottom of the ladder — P.M.Mazur
5.
a. : ladder company
b. : ladder truck
II. verb
( laddered ; laddered ; laddering -d(ə)riŋ ; ladders )
transitive verb
1. : to provide with ladders : scale by means of a ladder
ladder a building
2. : to provide with a fish ladder
ladder a falls
3. chiefly Britain : to cause or develop a ladder in
ladder a stocking
4. India : to work (land) with a ladder : harrow
5. : to mark transversely as if with rungs of a ladder : bar , stripe
slant rays laddered the lofty shade — D.C.Peattie
intransitive verb
1. chiefly Britain : to develop a ladder : run
stockings which laddered the first time they were worn
2. : to rise like or as if on the successive rungs of a ladder
dusty leaves laddering up a goldenrod stem — W.O.Mitchell
laddering up the bestseller list — Time