climb

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
climb/klʌɪm/

▶verb

• 1 go or come up (a slope, stairs, etc.).

  ■ rise or slope upwards.

  ■ (of a plant) grow up (a structure).

• 2 move with effort into or out of somewhere.

• 3 increase or rise in scale, value, or status.

• 4 (climb down) withdraw from a position taken up in argument or negotiation.

▶noun

• 1 an instance of climbing; an ascent.

  ■ a recognized route up a mountain or cliff.

• 2 a rise in status or increase in value.

– phrases
be climbing the walls informal feel frustrated and trapped.

– derivatives
climbable adjective,
climber noun,
climbing noun.

– origin OE climban, of W. Gmc origin; rel. to clay and cleave2.