clamber
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: clambers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: clambering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: clambered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: clambered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: clammer
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: clambers
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To climb (something) with some difficulty, or in a haphazard fashion.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: The children clambered over the jungle gym.
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.
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.
The worn-out Lawyer clambers to the bench / That he may live at eaſe, and keep his wench; [...]
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.[…]
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.
When I clamber to the heights of sleep, / Or when I grow excited with wine, / Suddenly I meet your face.
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!
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.
And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf.
gloss: The act of clambering; a difficult or haphazard climb.
pos: noun
examples: Against intruding uncalled, and without a proper Sybilline conductress, into the realms of grim Pluto, he might have objections, not easily removed; but against a clamber to the scene of Jove's own Court [Mount Olympus], no objection could possibly lie, except the danger of breaking his neck, in coming down again;—much too trivial to deter a true virtuoso adept.
The entrance to the caves is not far from the further gate of the park. Their position is truly disappointing. I had anticipated a clamber half up the side of the mountain, and then some vast rift of chasm, not attainable without difficulty and danger.
Beyond these woods were crags covered with purple heather, gleaming crimson in the light. Tired as I was, I could not resist going out of my way to enjoy a clamber over the wild moor, and its fresh breezy air.
They [the author's cats] loved a large Ordnance Survey map above all things, or a clamber across the electric typewriter (though they never succeeded in typing their names, as my Chiltern cat Pip, in a moment of serendipitous dancing, very nearly did).
Translations: