clamber
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈklæmbə/
ipa: /ˈklæmbɚ/
ipa: /ˈklæmɚ/
rhymes: -æmbə(ɹ)
Forms: form: clambers
form: clambering
form: clambered
form: clambered
form: clammer
Etymology: From Middle English clambren, clameren, clemeren (“to climb, clamber; to crawl, creep”), then either:
* possibly from clam, clamb, clemb, past tense of climben (“to climb, get over; to ascend, rise”), and influenced by Old English clæmman (“to press”); or
* from Old English *clambrian, from Proto-Germanic *klambrōną or *klambizōną.
The English word is cognate with Low German klemmern, klempern (“to climb”), Scots clammer (“to clamber”); and compare also Danish klamre (“to cling”), Icelandic klambra, klembra (“to pinch closely together; clamp”), Swedish klamra (“to cling”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Senses: examples: text: The children clambered over the jungle gym.
text: Now, neither for his harp, nor quiuer, cares: / Him ſelfe debaſing, beares the corded ſnares; / Or leades the dogs, or clambers mountaines; led / By lordly Loue, and flames by cuſtome fed.
ref: 1626, Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, pages 199–200:
text: Then ſaid the Shepherds, Thoſe that you ſee lie daſhed in pieces at the bottom of this Mountain, are they: and they have continued to this day unburied (as you ſee) for an example to others to take heed how they clamber too high, or how they come too near the brink of this Mountain.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 157:
text: The worn-out Lawyer clambers to the bench / That he may live at eaſe, and keep his wench; [...]
ref: 1768, William Wilkie, “A Dialogue. The Author and a Friend.”, in Fables, London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: A[lexander] Kincaid and J. Bell, →OCLC, page 138:
text: She threaded the narrow path, she passed the gloomy vineyard that clambers up the rock, and gained the lofty spot, green with moss and luxuriant foliage, where the dust of him [Virgil] who yet soothes and elevates the minds of men is believed to rest.
ref: 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VIII, in Zanoni. […], volume I, London: Saunders & Otley, […], →OCLC, book the third (Theurgia), page 296:
text: And scarce did manlier nerve uphold / The hero Zal in that fond hour, / Than wings the youth who, fleet and bold, / Now climbs the rocks to Hinda's bower. / See—light as up their granite steeps / The rock-goats of Arabia clamber, / Fearless from crag to crag he leaps, / And now is in the maiden's chamber.
ref: 1845, Thomas Moore, “The Fire-worshippers”, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. […], London: Printed [by A[ndrew] Spottiswoode] for Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 362, column 1:
text: He purchased his own boat, and made a home / For Annie, neat and nestlike, halfway up / The narrow street that clamber'd toward the mill.
ref: 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Enoch Arden”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 4:
text: Fancy the secret meetings between the perjuring husband and wife, the denials of having seen each other, the clambering in at bedroom windows, and the hiding in closets!
ref: 1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1896, →OCLC, part V (At Aldbrickham and Elswhere), page 306:
text: Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clambered across that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been a mid-wall of partition between me and danger.[…]
ref: 1898, J[ohn] Meade Falkner, “In the Vault”, in Moonfleet, London: Edward Arnold; Edinburgh: T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC; republished London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape […], 1934, →OCLC, page 56:
text: He would clamber about the roof and windows for hours attempting to discover means of ingress, but to the door he paid little attention, for this was apparently as solid as the walls.
ref: 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Jungle Battles”, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC, page 67:
text: When I clamber to the heights of sleep, / Or when I grow excited with wine, / Suddenly I meet your face.
ref: 1917 November, W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, “A Deep-Sworn Vow”, in The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, Churchtown, Dundrum [Dublin]: The Cuala Press, →OCLC, page 15:
text: In love, however, women are brave. How many clamber over rooftops of houses and palaces, and are still doing it, when their lovers await them!
ref: 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 47:
text: But yesterday, on an impulse, we ventured out, getting through a gap in the wall and clambering up the rocks until we reached the peak.
ref: 2004, Shashi Deshpande, “Lost Springs”, in Collected Stories, volume II, New Delhi: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 70:
text: And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf.
ref: 2013, J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, chapter 22, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 220:
glosses: To climb (something) with some difficulty, or in a haphazard fashion.
Derived terms: clamberer
clambersome