| 释义 |
▪ I. ladder, n.|ˈlædə(r)|
Forms: 1 hlǽder, hlǽdder, 2–4 leddre, 4 Kent. lheddre, 3–5 (6 Sc.) ledder, 4–5 leddir(e, leddyr, 3–4 laddre, 4 laddir, 6– ladar, 6–7 lather, 4– ladder.
[OE. hlǽd(d)er str. fem., corresp. to OFris. hleder, hladder-, MDu. lēdere (Du. leer, also ladder from Fris.), OHG. leitara (MHG., mod.G. leiter):—OTeut. *hlaidrjâ, f. Teut. root *hlĭ-: hlai- (whence lean v.):—Aryan *klī̆-: cf. Gr. κλῖµαξ ladder.]
1. a. An appliance made of wood, metal, or rope, usually portable, consisting of a series of bars (‘rungs’) or steps fixed between two supports, by means of which one may ascend to or descend from a height.
971Blickl. Hom. 209 Þær wæs ᵹewuna þæm folce..þæt hie æfter hlæddrum up to ðæm glæsenum fæte astiᵹon. c1000ælfric Gen. xxviii. 12 Þa ᵹeseah he on swefne standan ane hlædre fram eorðan to heofenan. a1100Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 263 Hlædre, horscamb and sceara. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1607 He..saȝ..fro ðe erðe up til heuene bem, A leddre stonden. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3103 Hii..cables vette ynowe & laddren & leuours. c1340Cursor M. 3779 (Fairf.) In slepe a ladder him þoȝt he seyghe fra þe firmament riȝt to his eyghe. 1375Barbour Bruce x. 642 Thai set thair ledder to the wall. c1400Destr. Troy 4761 Þai wonyn on the wallis lightly with ladders. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Chron. our Time 159 The Emperour goynge forth as farre as the ladder of the shippe to mete him, receaveth him in. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 356/1 A lather of fourteene staves would but reach to the top. 1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. xiv. (1626) 298 [He] oft a lather tooke To gather fruit. 1726–7Swift Gulliver i. i. 25 That several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which..the inhabitants mounted. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xl, Kit mounted half way up a short ladder.
†b. esp. The steps to a gallows. Chiefly in phr. to bring to the ladder. groom of the ladder (jocular): a hangman. Obs.
a1533Ld. Berners Huon lix. 204 [Iuoryn] commaundyd a .xxx. men to lede hym to y⊇ galows &..they causyd the mynstrell to mount vp on y⊇ ladder. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. 1883–4 V. 138, I..should haue been hanged, was brought to the ladder,..and yet for all that scap'd dancing in a hempen circle. Ibid. 151 Casting mee off the ladder. Ibid. 185 A fidler cannot turne his pin so soone, as he [an executioner] would turn a man of the ladder. 1601Dent Path-w. Heaven 311 Many..haue beene brought to the gallowes, and haue confessed vpon the ladder, that [etc.]. a1640Day Peregr. Schol. (1881) 72 A kinsman of myne that is grome of the ladder and yeoman of the corde. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xix. (1669) 233/2 The offer of a pardon comes too late to him that has turn'd himself off the Ladder.
c. fig. Also in phr. † to draw up the ladder after itself [cf. F. après lui il faut tirer l'échelle]: to be unapproachable. to see through a ladder: to see what is obvious. to kick down the ladder: said of persons who repudiate or ignore the friendships or associations by means of which they have risen in the world.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 129 Ðis is sunfulla monna leddre. a1225Ancr. R. 354 And forði þet Dauid hefde þeos two stalen of þisse leddre, þauh he king were, he clomb upward. 1340Ayenb. 246 Þis is þe laste stape of þe lheddre of perfeccion. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 44 The Fende..leith a laddre there-to, of lesynges aren the ronges. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 77 Men sette moche store by the foresayde science and was their opynion that it was the laddre to go vp into alle other sciences. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. i. 55 Northumberland, thou Ladder where⁓withall The mounting Bullingbrooke ascends my Throne. a1625Cope in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 133 It is not the true way..for men to raise themselves by ladders of detraction. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy i. 87 After the Domo, I saw the Church of the Annunciata, which draweth up the Ladder after it for neatness. 1794Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (ed. 2) I. 449 Duncan is, I think, a little altered; there is nothing like kicking down the ladder a man rises by. 1843Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. I. i. iv. 74 With these two houses alone I have worked up the medical ladder of my life. 1847De Smet Oregon Missions 31 It was on this occasion he conceived the idea of the Catholic ladder—‘a form of instruction which represents on paper the various truths and mysteries of religion in their chronological order’. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs vii. (1872) 27 She has struggled so gallantly for polite reputation that she has won it: pitilessly kicking down the ladder as she advanced degree by degree. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vi. 37 Can't ye see through a ladder, ye black nigger? 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 73 He now began to climb the ladder of preferment afresh. 1910Daily Chron. 24 Jan. 8/3 Some kind of ladder of subjects..would be a great gain. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 15 Knowledge that would serve as a ladder to further research. 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. i. 29 Special attention was..given to such important matters as the breadth of the educational ladder. 1974‘W. Haggard’ Kinsmen x. 98 When he'd made a great fortune Duncan Gregg had gone up the ladder a little. But not very much, he was still in trade.
2. With qualifying words indicating its use, construction, position, etc., as fire-ladder, extension-ladder, rope-ladder, scaling-ladder, step-ladder, etc. Also Naut., as accommodation ladder, bowsprit ladder, entering ladder, gallery ladder, quarter ladder, stern ladder. Also Jacob's ladder.
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Sea-men 13 An entring ladder or cleats. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Ladders, the Bolt-sprit-ladder, at the Beak-head, made fast over the Bolt-sprit, to get upon it. 1758Sharp in Naval Chron. VIII. 154 He..got into a boat from the stern ladder. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Ladder, Accommodation Ladder, is a sort of light stair-case, occasionally fixed on the gangway of the admiral, or commander in chief, of a fleet. Ibid., Quarter-Ladders, two ladders of rope, depending from the right and left side of a ship's stern.
3. a. Applied to things more or less resembling a ladder. Often with qualifying words, as cheese ladder, cooper's ladder, paring ladder (see quots.); fish ladder (see fish n.1 7).
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 318/2 The paring Ladder, or Coopers Ladder..By the help of this all Barrel Staves or Boards are held fast and sure while the Work-man is paring or shaving them. Ibid. 335/1 A Cheese Ladder..serveth to lay over the Cheese Tub for the Cheese Fat to rest upon, while the Dairy Woman presseth the Whay out of the Cruds. Ibid. 339/2 The Cart Lathers are the Crooked peeces set over the Cart wheels to keepe Hay and Straw loaden off them. 1851Catal. Gt. Exhib. 376 Scotch cart..with ladders complete, so as to be used as a dung or harvest cart. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Ladder, a notched cleat or stick in a bookcase, for supporting shelves. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 90 Two Salmon Ladders, One Jumping Ladder, One Swimming Ladder. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Ladder, a series of mud buckets which are carried up and down in an oblique direction, for emptying and refilling in dredging operations. 1890Wesleyan Methodist's Mag. Mar. 162 A woven-ladder tape for Venetian blinds, in lieu of hand-made ladders. 1892Daily News 25 Jan. 3/3 The flowers are formed into ruches, which trim the skirt and are carried up the sides, with a ladder of ribbons between the lines.
b. In knitted garments or stockings: a longitudinal strip of unravelled fabric, so called from the appearance of the threads.
1838A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews II. xi. 246 He had been diverted by observing a fracture (or what a sempstress would term a ladder) in the back part of His Majesty's black-silk stockings. 1875Plain Needlework 10 A crochet needle (to pick up the ladders in stockings). 1908Daily Chron. 31 Dec. 4/6 Silk tights are fragile things, sadly given to ‘ladders’ on the least provocation. 1919‘C. Dane’ Legend 128 Someone ought to see that his socks were mended properly, for there was a great ladder down one ankle. 1957M. Spark Comforters iv. 76 There was a ladder in her stocking. 1973J. Cleary Ransom vii. 158 Sylvia looked up from examining the ladders in her stockings.
c. Naval gunnery. A series of range-finding shots up to or back from the target.
1922Grand Fleet Gunnery & Torpedo Memoranda on Naval Actions 1914–18 (Admiralty) vii. 57 The procedure generally found best by the control officers when the shot should have been straddling but nothing could be seen was to ladder down with a 200 ladder till shorts were clearly seen, and then ladder up till shorts were not seen, when the process was repeated... Although this blind ladder is extravagant in ammunition, it appears that no other course is open under similar conditions of visibility.
4. In names of plants, as Christ's ladder (see Christ 5). Ladder to Heaven (see quots.). Also Jacob's ladder.
1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 699 Wee in English [call it] Salomons Seale most usually, but in some countries the people call it Ladder to Heaven,..from the forme of the stalke of leaves, one being set above another. 1760Lee Introd. Bot. App. (1765) 316 Ladder to Heaven, Convallaria. 1879Britten & Holland Plant-n., Ladder to Heaven. (1) Polemonium cæruleum, L. (2) Polygonatum multiflorum.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as ladder foot, ladder rung, † ladder stale, ladder stave;
b. objective, as ladder-climber (in quot. fig.);
c. instrumental, as ladder-travelling; ladder-bridged adj.;
d. similative, as ladder-path, ladder road; ladderwise adv.
1898Westm. Gaz. 26 Aug. 8/2 The *ladder-bridged crevasse.
1870Even. Standard 17 Sept., The *ladder-climbers, who now direct the affairs of Paris.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xliii, Syne furth him led, and to the gallowis gais, And at the *ledder-fute his leif he tais.
1814S. Rogers Jacquel. Poems (1839) 26 Up many a *ladder-path he guided.
1828J. R. Best Italy as it is 30 We had descended many steps of the *ladder-road.
1620in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 171 For a peece of Timber to make *Ladder Rungs, 12d.
a1225Ancr. R. 354 Þeos two [þinges] scheome and pine..beoð þe two *leddre stalen þet beoð upriht to þe heouene.
c1440Promp. Parv. 293/1 *Leddyr stafe, scalarium. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 606 As ladder staues they were equally distant one from another.
1855Cornwall 156 The *ladder-travelling is rendered less fatiguing, by being varied and broken up into short journeys.
1593Queen Elizabeth Boethius i. pr. i. 7 Betwine bothe lettars, *ladarwise, certain steps wer marked.
6. Special comb.: ladder-back (chair), a chair in which the back is formed of horizontal pieces of wood, suggestive of a ladder; ladder-back(ed) woodpecker U.S., one of several North American species of woodpecker with black and white, barred markings, esp. Dendrocopos scalaris; ladder-braid, a kind of braid made on the lace-pillow; ladder-carriage, one for conveying fire-ladders (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); ladder company, detachment Mil. (see quot.); ladder-dance (see quot.); hence ladder-dancer; ladder-dredge, a dredge having buckets carried round on a ladder-like chain (Cent. Dict.); ladder fern, a fern of the genus Nephrolepis, which spreads by creeping rhizomes, producing new crowns; ladder-like a., resembling a ladder, gradational; also adv.; ladder-man, ‘in a fire-brigade, a member of a hook-and-ladder company’ (Cent. Dict.); ladder network Electr., a network having two pairs of terminals and consisting of impedances that are alternately in series and in parallel, so that the circuit diagram has the form of a ladder; ladder party = ladder detachment; ladder point, a form of ladder stitch; ladder polymer, a polymer in which pairs of long straight-chain molecules are joined by recurring cross-links; ladder-proof a., of fabrics: not liable to ladder; ladder shell, a marine shell of the genus Scalaria, a staircase-shell, wentletrap; ladder stitch, a cross-bar stitch in embroidery; ladder-stop, at the top and toe of a stocking, a band of open-work designed to prevent a ladder; ladder-truck, a vehicle for carrying fire-ladders and hooks; ladder-walker = ladder-dancer; ladder way, a ‘way’ by which one descends or ascends by means of a ladder, (a) in the deck of a ship, (b) in the shaft of a mine; ladder woodpecker = ladder-back(ed) woodpecker; ladder-work, work done with the help of a ladder, e.g. house-painting, etc. (Simmonds Dict. Trade 1858).
1908Daily Report 24 Aug. 8/3 Three *ladder-back chairs, with cherubs and a crown, brought {pstlg}46. 1923Daily Mail 11 Jan. 11 Let the table be of the gate-leg variety and the chairs of the style known as ladder-backs. 1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 51 Ladder back, chairs made at the end of the seventeenth century with horizontal slats across the back like a ladder. 1973J. Burrows Like an Evening Gone i. 14 Greta was sitting on a ladderback chair by the kitchen table.
1884E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 485 Picoïdes americanus..*Ladder-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 1917T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. II. 149/1 The Ladder-back Woodpeckers are divisible into three regional varieties, the American, the Alaska.., and the Alpine. 1964A. Wetmore et al. Song & Garden Birds N. Amer. 92/1 Ladder-backed woodpecker. Dendrocopos scalaris. Vast stretches of hot, treeless desert seem a curious habitat for a woodpecker. Yet to the ladderback such country is home.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 43 *Ladder braid.
1884Mil. Engineering I. ii. 87 The men told off to one ladder (4 files or more, according to length of ladder) form a ‘*ladder detachment’ and the detachments for one line of ladders form a ‘*ladder company’, or ‘ladder double company’.
1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. v. 173 The *Ladder-dance; so called, because the performer stands upon a ladder, which he shifts from place to place, and ascends or descends without losing the equilibrium, or permitting it to fall.
1709Steele Tatler No. 12 ⁋18 *Ladder⁓dancers, Rope-dancers, Jugglers.
1884W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 222/2 Nephrolepis cordifolia, *Ladder Fern, of New Zealand. 1893G. Schneider Bk. Choice Ferns II. xliii. 583 Nephrolepis... Ladder Ferns... This genus..belts the world in the Tropics, passing a little beyond them both north and south. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1365/2 Nephrolepis,.. Ladder fern. A genus of about 35 species of handsome ferns, widely dispersed over the tropics. 1969Coast to Coast 1967–68 49 Beyond that was the swamp—tea-trees, paperbarks, huge ladder ferns.
1859Cornwallis New World I. 21 A *ladder-like flight of steps. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 303 Parallel bundles,..connected in a ladder-like manner by transverse branches. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 565 The great parallel terraces over which, ladderlike, the neighbouring Congo has cut its bed. 1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases x. 181 A gradual ladder-like rise [of temperature].
1930A. C. Bartlett Theory Electr. Artificial Lines iii. 41 The theory of a general *ladder network, in which all the elements may have arbitrary values, will first be considered, and..from it will be derived a class of symmetrical ladder artificial lines, of which the T and Π section lines are but simple cases. 1966H. J. Reich et al. Theory & Applications Active Devices xviii. 543 Ladder-network oscillators..consist of a voltage-inverting amplifier and a ladder-type resistance-capacitance feedback network that usually has three or more similar sections.
1884Mil. Engineering I. ii. 98 It is always advisable to have officers and non-commissioned officers..with *ladder parties. 1891A. H. Crawfurd Gen. Crawfurd & Light Div. 230 Fleming..fell leading the ladder party..at Badajoz.
1971New Scientist 24 June 761/2 The use of conventional straight-chain polymers seems to be restricted by an upper temperature limit of about 550°C, but the *ladder polymers (so-called because of their integral cross-linked structure) offer more exciting possibilities. 1974Sci. Amer. Mar. 66/3 Ladder polymers, or double chains, are found in amphibole minerals, such as one form of asbestos.
1927Observer 3 Apr. 25 Celanese cami-bockers... In *Ladder⁓proof Self Stripe. 1962Economist 2 June 897/1 The new answers to feminine prayer [sc. a new type of seamless stockings] are said..to be ladderproof, although not hole⁓proof.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 186 *Ladder stitch, there are two kinds of this stitch, the open, called *Ladder Point, or Point d'Echelle, in which the bars forming the stitch are taken across an open space, and the closed, known as Jacob, and Ship Ladder, in which the bars are worked on to the material itself.
1931Daily Express 15 Oct. 12/7 (caption) Pair of Lady's Artificial Silk Hose with *ladder-stop tops. 1962Which? Apr. 114/1 Most of the leading firms sell a style with a band of open-work knitting at the welt, known as a ladder-stop.
1711Steele Spect. No. 258 ⁋3 Why should not..*Ladder-walkers, and Posture-makers appear again on our Stage?
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 128 *Ladder⁓ways, the openings in the decks wherein the ladders are placed. 1875J. H. Collins Metal Mining 77 A shaft..large enough to allow of ample pumping space, a good ladder-way [etc.].
1870Amer. Naturalist III. 474 The resident species not found westward [of the Colorado Valley] were the *Ladder Woodpecker (Picus scalaris), the White-bellied Wren, [etc.].
Hence nonce-wds. ˈladderless a., having no ladder; ˈladdery a., resembling a ladder.
1852Fraser's Mag. XLVI. 455 Short flights of abrupt laddery steps. 1897P. Warung Tales Old Regime 78 They were separated from the surface by sixty feet of ladderless shaft.
Add:[1.] d. fig. A route leading to benefit or advantage, as in the children's board-game snakes and ladders.
1933N. Streatfeild Tops & Bottoms xii. 146 Felicity thought that bringing up Beaty was rather like playing Snakes and Ladders, through no fault of your own stepping on the head of a snake and sliding to the bottom again; in this case, with no ladder in view up which to shoot to regain lost ground. 1971‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xii. 166 With him..was my friend Wallace Brady: up one ladder and down two possible snakes. 1985A. Price Here be Monsters i. 22 Here was a snake or a ladder, and she could choose whether to go up or down.
▪ II. ladder, v.|ˈlædə(r)|
[f. ladder n.]
1. trans. To scale with a ladder; to furnish with a ladder or with ladders. Also absol.
a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 191 His friends came rushing forward to ladder the walls. 1582–8Hist. Jas. VI (1804) 173 The men of Leith..looking for na uther thing bot..to haue ladderit and winn the hous. 1643Session Rec. in Hist. Brechin (1867) 232 To Alexander Talbert for laddering the church 3s. 4d. 1665J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 188 They came from their Stations..by Planks laid from His unto their Stones, and otherwise they could not, without laddring up and down. 1901J. Black Illustr. Carpenter & Builder Ser.: Scaffolding 67 The stack was laddered from the bottom to the top with a series of ladders. 1901Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 585/2 When Mr. Grant..laddered the Moriston falls.., the Crown claimed and gained the new fishings. 1923Daily Mail 22 June 5 Having just laddered the spire of Truro Cathedral, he found every crevice crammed with jackdaws' nests.
2. intr. Of garments, esp. stockings: to develop ladders as the result of the breaking of a thread or threads. Also trans. Hence ˈladdering vbl. n.
1922Daily Mail 14 Nov. 12 (Advt.), Your stockings cannot ladder. Laddering and damage to stockings..are entirely obviated. 1927W. Deeping Doomsday viii. 78 At the last moment a stocking had ‘laddered’. 1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. iii. 152 The demand for excessive sheerness and transparency in ladies' stockings is the root cause of the tendency to ladder. 1973‘S. Woods’ Enter Corpse 171 Her dress [was] crumpled, and both her stockings were laddered.
3. Naval gunnery. To fire shots in a ladder (sense 3 c).
1922[see ladder n. 3 c]. 1959Chambers's Encycl. VI. 662/2 In the case of surface vessels, finding the accurate gun range, which is done by ‘laddering’ i.e. increasing or decreasing the range of successive salvoes until the target is crossed, is not difficult if the enemy maintains his course and speed.
▪ III. ladder
obs. form of lather. |