climbers

Noun

climber (plural climbers)

1. Someone or something that climbs (such as a mountain climber).
   • Police said evidence, including footprints, was found where they believe the climbers had begun to traverse the slopes beneath Zurbriggen Ridge.2024 December 6, James Legge, “Three climbers from the US and Canada are believed to have died in a fall on New Zealand’s highest peak”, in CNN
   1. A plant such as a vine that climbs upwards as it grows by attaching itself to some support.
   2. (cycle racing) A cyclist who specializes in riding especially well on steep hills or roads.
   3. (derogatory, figuratively) A person who is constantly trying to get ahead socially.
      • His mother was a climber, determined that her children should attend the right schools and generally succeed in what was still very much a WASP world.1977 August 20, Robert Etherington, “John Horne Burns and His Enemies”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 10
   4. A bird that climbs, such as a parrot or woodpecker; specifically (archaic), a bird having two toes pointing forward, and two pointing backward, formerly regarded as being from the order Scansores or Zygodactyli (now obsolete as the birds formerly in this order have been reclassified into different orders); a zygodactyl.
2. (Canada) Any structure on a playground designed to be climbed on.
   • If his greatest hits are museum climbers that complement the subject matter in surrounding exhibits, then "the mall jobs," he says, which are more about color and composition, "are little ditties."2016 September 28, Megan Gambino, “King of the Playground, Spencer Luckey, Builds Climbers That Are Engineering Marvels”, in Smithsonian Magazine, archived from the original on 10 Dec 2022

See all 8 meanings of climber