ladder

 
Pronunciation: /ˈladə/

noun

  • 1a piece of equipment consisting of a series of bars or steps between two upright lengths of wood, metal, or rope, used for climbing up or down something.
  • a series of ascending stages by which someone or something may progress: employees on their way up the career ladder
  • 2British a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings: one of Sally’s stockings developed a ladder

verb

British
  • (with reference to tights or stockings) develop or cause to develop a ladder: (as adjective laddered) her tights were always laddered [no object]: they laddered the minute I put them on

Origin:

Old English hlǣd(d)er, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch leer and German Leiter