In British English, Tights Ladder
A ladder is a set of rungs for climbing. In Britain it also names a run in a stocking, from the shape it makes.
A ladder is a structure of rungs used for climbing. Britain applies it to hosiery: when a knitted stocking loses a stitch, the vertical line of dropped loops looks like a ladder, and that is what it is called. Americans say a *run*. The metaphorical ladder of career or social advancement is shared by both.
- A climbing structure. *A step ladder.*
- A run in a stocking (British). *A ladder in her tights.*
- A hierarchy. *The career ladder.*
- To develop a run. *My tights laddered.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | ladder | An extension ladder. |
| Plural | ladders | Two ladders. |
| Verb | ladder | They laddered. |
| American | run | A run in her stockings. |
| Related | rung | A broken rung. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She climbed the career ladder.Figurative.
- My tights have laddered.British.
- The property ladder is a British obsession.Housing.
Ladder metaphors
- Career ladder — successive stages of advancement
- Property ladder — moving to progressively larger homes
- Social ladder — hierarchy of status
- Snakes and ladders — a game of chance, originally an Indian moral allegory
- Kick the ladder away — deny others the route you used
From Old English *hlæder*, related to a root meaning to lean. The hosiery sense is nineteenth century.
Ladder or run?
Ladder is British for a line of dropped stitches in hosiery. Americans call it a run.
What was Snakes and Ladders originally?
An Indian game called Moksha Patam, in which ladders represented virtues and snakes vices on the path to liberation.