CLIMBER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does climber mean? 

• CLIMBER (noun)
  The noun CLIMBER has 5 senses:

1. a vine or climbing plant that readily grows up a support or over other plants

2. someone seeking social prominence by obsequious behavior

3. someone who ascends on foot

4. someone who climbs as a sport; especially someone who climbs mountains

5. an iron spike attached to the shoe to prevent slipping on ice when walking or climbing

  Familiarity information: CLIMBER used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLIMBER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A vine or climbing plant that readily grows up a support or over other plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("climber" is a kind of...):

vine (a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "climber"):

clematis (any of various ornamental climbing plants of the genus Clematis usually having showy flowers)

legume; leguminous plant (an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae)

Agdestis; genus Agdestis (a genus with one species that is a rapidly growing climbing vine with tuberous roots; grown in hot climates)

climbing fern (any of several ferns of the genus Lygodium that climb by twining)

root climber (a plant that climbs by its adventitious roots e.g. ivy)

Derivation:

climb (go upward with gradual or continuous progress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone seeking social prominence by obsequious behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

climber; social climber

Hypernyms ("climber" is a kind of...):

arriviste; nouveau-riche; parvenu; upstart (a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status but has not gained social acceptance of others in that class)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "climber"):

lion-hunter (someone who tries to attract social lions as guests)

Derivation:

climb (improve one's social status)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who ascends on foot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

climber; mounter

Context example:

a solitary mounter of the staircase

Hypernyms ("climber" is a kind of...):

ascender (someone who ascends)

Derivation:

climb (go upward with gradual or continuous progress)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Someone who climbs as a sport; especially someone who climbs mountains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the lead climber looked strong still but his partner often slumped in his ropes

Hypernyms ("climber" is a kind of...):

athlete; jock (a person trained to compete in sports)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "climber"):

escalader (someone who gains access by the use of ladders)

mountain climber; mountaineer (someone who climbs mountains)

cragsman; rock climber (a climber of vertical rock faces)

Derivation:

climb (go upward with gradual or continuous progress)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An iron spike attached to the shoe to prevent slipping on ice when walking or climbing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

climber; climbing iron; crampon; crampoon

Hypernyms ("climber" is a kind of...):

spike (sports equipment consisting of a sharp point on the sole of a shoe worn by athletes)

Derivation:

climb (go upward with gradual or continuous progress)

 Context examples 

However, most climbers fail to make the peak, and many people die each year in the attempt.

(Everest, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I had none of the appliances of a rock-climber with me, but I have taken the precaution to bring them now.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The feeble fingers were never idle, and one of her pleasures was to make little things for the school children daily passing to and fro, to drop a pair of mittens from her window for a pair of purple hands, a needlebook for some small mother of many dolls, penwipers for young penmen toiling through forests of pothooks, scrapbooks for picture-loving eyes, and all manner of pleasant devices, till the reluctant climbers of the ladder of learning found their way strewn with flowers, as it were, and came to regard the gentle giver as a sort of fairy godmother, who sat above there, and showered down gifts miraculously suited to their tastes and needs.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Now, ever since I ran wild as a lad in Ireland I have been a bold and skilled tree-climber.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Members of the expedition, as they did in previous attempts, carried bottled oxygen, but this made for a very heavy load on the climbers and could only supplement their oxygen needs, not fully meet them.

(Everest, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Yet I admit that there may very well be places where an expert human climber may reach the summit, and yet a cumbrous and heavy animal be unable to descend.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The 1953 British Expedition climbed up onto the South Col and then along the Southeast Ridge by a route, which is now the most heavily used by the thousands of climbers who have attempted to climb the mountain since.

(Everest, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)