ladder – English noun declension

English noun forms of ladder

Noun: ladder
Singularladder
Pluralladders

Sample Sentences

  • The form of a man was seen to enter, and both the females rushed up the ladder, as if equally afraid of the consequences. The stranger secured the door, and first examining the lower room with great care, he cautiously ascended the ladder. [1851, J[ames] Fenimore Cooper, “Chapter XXIII”, in The Pathfinder; or, The Inland Sea … Complete in One Volume. Revised and Corrected, with a New Introduction, Notes, &c., by the Author (The Leather-stocking Tales; III), rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: George P[almer] Putnam, 155 Broadway, →OCLC, page 411:]
  • Ladders are heavy and unwieldy. Handle them properly to avoid damaging property and to make sure you don't injure yourself. Carry a ladder upright, not slung across your shoulder. Hold the ladder vertically, bend your knees slightly, then rock the ladder back against your shoulder. Grip one rung lower down while you support the ladder at head height with your other hand, and then straighten your knees. [2009, Albert Jackson, David Day, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-To, rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Books, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 31:]
  • And why wouldn't I just turn around, not take a chance on the bad luck of walking under a ladder? Because, beyond it, there was Pluckie. My little dog was leashed to a bush, lunging and barking. If the leash came loose, her lunge could send her tumbling down the mountainside. [2014, Linda O. Johnston, Lost under a Ladder, Woodbury, Minn.: Midnight Ink, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:]
  • Newcastle had won both their previous fixtures in 2011 but were terribly disappointing at Broadhall Way against opponents 73 places below them in the footballing ladder. [2011 January 8, Paul Fletcher, “Stevenage 3 – 1 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016:]
  • Many publicly held companies do have good working conditions, but they often employ mostly high-wage workers or offer different levels of working conditions and benefits to management employees than to workers at the bottom of the ladder. [2010, Jody Heymann, Magda Barrera, Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press, →ISBN, page 6:]
  • Proposed Standard of Needlework to be required from Pupil-teachers at the Yearly Visits of Her Majesty's Inspectors. […] Darning Stockings.—To show a hole darned, and a thin place "run" (or strengthened), and a ladder properly taken up in a coarse worsted stocking. [1875, Report of the Committee of Council on Education (England and Wales); with Appendix. 1874–75. Report, and Parts I. to IV. of Appendix. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. (Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others: Twenty-seven Volumes; XXIV), volume X (Education), London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 54:]
  • You've got a huge ladder in your stockings. I've got a spare pair in my bag, come to the Ladies and you can change. [2008, Åsa Larsson, translated by Marlaine Delargy, The Black Path, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, →ISBN:]
  • The most dramatic introduction to the idea of how stones relate to each other over distance is how players react when a ladder (shicho, "she-ko"^([sic]) in Japanese) [シチョウ (shichō)] develops. […] Ouch! This is finding out about the ladder, which is called that because of the steplike shape that the defending stones are forced into. [2003, Peter Shotwell, Go! More Than a Game, Boston, Mass.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN:]

Etymology

1. Inherited from Middle English ladder, laddre; from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”).
2. Compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, German Leiter; also Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), and Umbrian 𐌊𐌋𐌄𐌈𐌓𐌀𐌌 (kleθram, “stretcher”). See lean, which is related to lid.
3. Further cognates include Ashkun istrī, Kamkata-viri c̣ik, Prasuni čik, čix; Waigali c̣iř, Sanskrit श्रिति (śrití). See: Middle English Nouns 'ladder', Middle English Nouns 'ladder', Old English Nouns 'hlǣder', Dutch Nouns 'ladder', German Nouns 'Leiter'.