climb

Universal Words verb, noun verb go up 1 ~ (up) (sth) to go up sth towards the top: [VN] to climb a mountain / hill / tree / wall * She climbed up the stairs. * The car slowly climbed the hill. * [V] As they climbed higher, the air became cooler. go through / down / over 2 [V+adv./prep.] to move somewhere, especially with difficulty or effort: I climbed through the window. * Sue climbed into bed. * Can you climb down? * The boys climbed over the wall. mountain / rock, etc. 3 (go climbing) to go up mountains or climb rocks as a hobby or sport: He likes to go climbing most weekends. aircraft / sun, etc. 4 [V] to go higher in the sky: The plane climbed to 33000 feet. * The sun climbed higher in the sky. slope up 5 [V] to slope upwards: From here the path climbs steeply to the summit. of plants 6 [V] to grow up a wall or frame: a climbing rose increase 7 [V] (of temperature, a country's money, etc.) to increase in value or amount: The dollar has been climbing all week. * The paper's circulation continues to climb. * Membership is climbing steadily. improve position / status 8 [V] to move to a higher position or social rank by your own effort: In a few years he had climbed to the top of his profession. * The team has now climbed to fourth in the league. IDIOMS see BANDWAGON PHRASALVERBS climb down (over sth) to admit that you have made a mistake or that you were wrong: The government was forced to climb down last night over its handling of pensions. relatednounCLIMBDOWN noun mountain / steps 1 an act of climbing up a mountain, rock or large number of steps; a period of time spent climbing: an exhausting climb * It's an hour's climb to the summit. 2 a mountain or rock which people climb up for sport: Titan's Wall is the mountain's hardest rock climb. increase 3 [usuallysing.] an increase in value or amount: the dollar's climb against the euro to a higher position or status 4 [usuallysing.] progress to a higher status, standard or position: a rapid climb to stardom * the long slow climb out of the recession