Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CLIMB, v.i. [clime; pret. and pp. climbed, or clomb, but the latter is not elegant. Sax. climan, or climban; D. klimen; G. id. The corresponding word in Dan. is klyver; Sw. klifwa.]

1. To creep up by little and little, or step by step; to mount or ascend, by means of the hands and feet; to rise on any fixed object, by seizing it with the hands and lifting the body, and by thrusting with the feet; as, to climb a tree or a precipice. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree. – Luke xix.
2. To mount or ascend with labor and difficulty. Shak.
3. To rise or ascend with a slow motion. Black vapors climb aloft. – Dryden.