a piece of equipment used for climbing up or down. It has two long side pieces joined by narrower horizontal pieces on which you put your feet.
The fireman climbed the ladder to rescue the cat.
She put the ladder against the wall to reach the high shelf.
✦ From Old English hlǣder, related to hlādan meaning 'to lean (or incline)', 'to load (or heap)' which is also the source of 'lade' and 'load'.
a long vertical split in a piece of knitted material, especially in tights or stockings.
Oh no, there's a ladder in my new tights!
She got a ladder in her stocking on the bus.
✦ Originally from the ladder-like appearance of the split.
to climb something using a ladder.
The sailors laddered down the ship's side to the boat below.
She laddered up the building to check the roof.
✦ From the noun 'ladder', first attested in the 16th century.
