Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CLI-MAC'TER-IC, a. [Gr. κλιμακτηρικος; L. climactericus, from climax, a ladder. See Climax.]

Literally, noting a scale, progression, or gradation; appropriately, denoting a critical period of human life, or a certain number of years, at the end of which a great change is supposed to take place in the human constitution. [See the Noun.]