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Webster 1913 Edition

Climb

Climb

(klīm)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Climbed
(klīmd)
,
Obs. or Vulgar
Clomb
(klŏm)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Climbing
.]
[AS.
climban
; akin to OHG.
chlimban
, G. & D.
klimmen
, Icel.
klīfa
, and E.
cleave
to adhere.]
1.
To ascend or mount laboriously, esp. by use of the hands and feet.
2.
To ascend as if with effort; to rise to a higher point.
Black vapors
climb
aloft, and cloud the day.
Dryden.
3.
(Bot.)
To ascend or creep upward by twining about a support, or by attaching itself by tendrils, rootlets, etc., to a support or upright surface.

Climb

,
Verb.
T.
To ascend, as by means of the hands and feet, or laboriously or slowly; to mount.

Climb

,
Noun.
The act of one who climbs; ascent by climbing.
Warburton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Climb

CLIMB

, v.i.
1.
To creep up by little and little, or step by step; to mount or ascend, by means of the hands and feet; to rise on any fixed object, by seizing it with the hands and lifting the body, and by thrusting with the feet; as, to climb a tree or a precipice.
And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree. Luke 19.
2.
To mount or ascend with labor and difficulty.
3.
To rise or ascend with a slow motion.
Black vapors climb aloft.

CLIMB

, v.t.
1.
To ascend by means of the hands and feet, implying labor, difficulty and slow progress; as, to climb a wall, or a steep mountain.
2.
To mount or ascend, with labor or a slow motion; as, to climb the ascents of fame.

Definition 2024

climb

climb

English

Verb

climb ‎(third-person singular simple present climbs, present participle climbing, simple past climbed or (archaic) clomb, past participle climbed or (archaic) clumb)

  1. (intransitive) To ascend; rise; to go up.
    Prices climbed steeply.
    • Dryden
      Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day.
  2. (transitive) To mount; to move upwards on.
    They climbed the mountain.
    Climbing a tree
  3. (transitive) To scale; to get to the top of something.
    • 2010 May 22, David Harrison, “American boy, 13, is youngest person to climb Everest”, in Daily Telegraph online:
      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.
  4. (transitive) To move (especially up and down something) by gripping with the hands and using the feet.
    • 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, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
      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.
  5. (intransitive) to practise the sport of climbing
  6. (intransitive) to jump high
    • 2010 December 28, Paul Fletcher, “Man City 4 - 0 Aston Villa”, in BBC:
      The defender climbed majestically at the near post to convert Johnson's corner.
    • 2008 September 13, “Ospreys Glasgow Magners League”, in South Wales Evening Post:
      As the game moved towards injury time, the Ospreys forced a line-out which Jonathan Thomas climbed high to take.
    • 2001 December 29, Derick Allsop, “Bolton's nine men hit back to steal a point”, in Daily Telegraph online:
      Four minutes of stoppage time were virtually up when Ricketts climbed to head in the equaliser from substitute Nicky Southall's centre.
  7. To move to a higher position on the social ladder.
  8. (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.

Derived terms

Synonyms

(get to the top of):

Translations

Noun

climb ‎(plural climbs)

  1. 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.
  2. The act of getting to somewhere more elevated.
    • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
      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.
    • 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.
  3. An upwards struggle
    • 1998 September 30, AP, “Worst May Lie Ahead For Asia, Report Warns”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
      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

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English climben, from Old English climban ‎(“to climb”), 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

  • IPA(key): /klaɪm/, [kˡlaɪm]
  • Rhymes: -aɪm

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