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# ladder

noun (a ladder, ladders); verb (ladder, ladders, laddered — UK, of tights)

«ladder» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A ladder is a piece of equipment for climbing up and down, with two long side pieces joined by steps called rungs. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#m1)
2. A ladder is a series of levels you can move up, like a career ladder. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#m2)
3. In British English, a ladder is a line of broken threads in tights (in the USA, a «run»). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#m3)

### In the lessons

In safety lessons: only use a ladder with an adult nearby, make sure it stands on flat, firm ground, keep three points of contact (two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand), never lean too far to the side. Firefighters use long ladders to rescue people. In games, «Snakes and Ladders» (Chutes and Ladders in the USA) is a board game where ladders take you up. In maths, a ladder against a wall makes a right-angled triangle. Phrases: «climb a ladder», «go up the ladder», «step ladder», «rope ladder», «Snakes and Ladders».

### Examples

- Dad climbed the ladder to clean the gutters. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x1)
- Hold the ladder steady for me. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x2)
- The firefighter carried the child down the ladder. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x3)
- I landed on a ladder in Snakes and Ladders. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x4)
- The treehouse has a rope ladder. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x5)
- Don't walk under a ladder; something might fall on you. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x6)
- My tights have a ladder in them. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x7)
- She worked her way up the ladder to become head teacher. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x8)
- Are you standing on a ladder?" [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/#x9)

### Note

Plural ladders. Do not confuse with «latter» (the second of two) or «larder» (a cupboard for food). Walking under a ladder being unlucky is a superstition, but it can be unsafe because tools may fall.

## In Jewish tradition

Jacob's ladder shows a link between earth and heaven, with God standing above and promising him the land and many children.

**Interpretation.** The rabbis read it as showing that people can rise toward God through their actions, and some saw the angels as a picture of the nations' rise and fall.

### Examples

- And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (Torah GEN.28.12, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/ladder/#x1)
- Eliphas Lévi, the famous French Occultist, thus wrote of the "Sepher Yetzirah," in his "Histoire de la Magie," P. 54: "The Zoharis a Genesis of illumination, the Sepher Jezirah is a ladder formed of truths. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/ladder/#x2)

### Note

Plural ladders. Do not confuse with «latter» (the second of two) or «larder» (a cupboard for food). Walking under a ladder being unlucky is a superstition, but it can be unsafe because tools may fall.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ladder» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/ladder/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ladder» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ladder.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «ladder» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/ladder/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ladder» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/ladder.html) on Mova free.