angel's ladders

Noun

angel's ladder (plural angel's ladders)

1. A ladder leading to heaven.
   • Nor will the light fade from the vision, when it is turned toward the valley of the shadow of death, if faith shall keep it fixed upon the token of the covenant, for its beautiful arch bridges over the chasm, and like the angel's ladder, in Jacob's dream, it reaches from earth to heaven.1850, B. J. Lossing, “The Covenant”, in The Odd-fellows' Offering for 1850, page 108
2. A flowering plant of the genus Polemonium.
   • Who gave the spiderwort to St. Bruno; the black briony for our Lady's Seal; the corn-feverfew to St. Anne; the common bean to St. Ignatius; the bane-berry to St. Christopher; the blue valerian to Jacob for his angel's ladder; the toywort to the shepherds for their purse?1892, Ouida, Signa
3. A ray of sunlight descending from between clouds.
   • Phenomena such as angel's ladders, sun dogs, & the coloration of everyday objects will will illustrate the occurence^([sic]) of these different frequencies.1999, Bowker's Directory of Videocassettes for Children, page 969
4. (figuratively) A way to be worthy of heaven; virtue or virtuous living.
   • At the beginning of the moral life, when we make our first steps towards virtue, all seems weakness, doubt, and hesitation. At the climax of mortal goodness we see that the saint's footing stands secure on the angel's ladder, whose summit is lost in heaven's splendors.1864, Frances Power Cobbe, An Essay on Intuitive Morals: The Theory of Morals, page 46
5. (figuratively) A tall, craggy, cliff.
   • When on the summit, we had gone part way Up angel's ladders, toward eternal day.1879, Charles Edwin Furman, Valley of the Genesee, page 101
6. (figuratively) A chain of reasoning or actions that progresses to something sublime.
   • Vivid as was her admiration, however, she would probably have parted from him without the aspiring venture of loving him, if she had not seen disclosed, in the daily progress of her picture, an angel's ladder by which the heaven of an equality with him might be reached.1850, Nathaniel Parker Willis, Sketches and Pictures, page 208