Jacob's-ladder

Noun

Jacob's ladder (plural Jacob's ladders)

1. A ladder leading to heaven.
   • Jacob's ladder; Christ is Jacob's ladder that reacheth up to heaven; and he that refuseth to go by this ladder thither, will scarce by other means get up so high.1691, John Bunyan, “The Jerusalem Sinner Saved”, in The Works of John Bunyan, volume 1

   Synonyms:

   angel's ladder

2. A flowering plant of the genus Polemonium.
   • Hetty could have cast all her past life behind her and never cared to be reminded of it again. I think she had no feeling at all towards the old house, and did not like the Jacob's Ladder and the long row of hollyhocks in the garden better than other flowers—perhaps not so well.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XV, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first
3. A rope ladder from the ratline to the upper mast.
   • And this is one of the signs by which you can tell a man-of-war from a merchantman, for in war-ships the catch ratline is on the aftermost shroud instead of on the foremost. In a man-of-war, too, the topgallant-rigging is never rattled down, as a Jacob's ladder leads from the topgallantmast-head...1891 November 28, W. J. Gordon, “Rigging and Rigs”, in Golden Days for Boys and Girls, volume XIII, number 1
4. A toy consisting of blocks of wood, held together by strings or ribbons, that appear to cascade downward as they flip over.
5. A pocketknife consisting of two handle segments joined by a pivot, with a blade connected by a second pivot to the end of one handle segment.
6. A noncompact surface resembling a ladder made of handlebodies.
   • The infinite Loch Ness monster and Jacob's ladder (Figure 12.1.1) are diffeomorphic surfaces.2000, Alberto Candel, Lawrence Conlon, Foliations (Graduate Studies in Mathematics), volume 23, American Mathematical Society, →ISBN, page 311

See all 9 meanings of Jacob's ladder