clamber

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”);^[1] 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.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklæmbə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈklæmbɚ/, /ˈklæmɚ/
• Rhymes: -æmbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: clam‧ber

clamber (third-person singular simple present clambers, present participle clambering, simple past and past participle clambered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To climb (something) with some difficulty, or in a haphazard fashion.

   The children clambered over the jungle gym.

   • 1626, Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished , London: William Stansby, →OCLC, pages 199–200:

     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.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , London: Nath Ponder , →OCLC, page 157:

     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.

   • 1768, William Wilkie, “A Dialogue. The Author and a Friend.”, in Fables, London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, ; Edinburgh: A Kincaid and J. Bell, →OCLC, page 138:

     The worn-out Lawyer clambers to the bench / That he may live at eaſe, and keep his wench; [...]

   • 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VIII, in Zanoni. , volume I, London: Saunders & Otley, , →OCLC, book the third (Theurgia), page 296:

     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.

   • 1845, Thomas Moore, “The Fire-worshippers”, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. , London: Printed Spottiswoode] for Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, , →OCLC, page 362, column 1:

     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.

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Enoch Arden”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., , →OCLC, page 4:

     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.

   • 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:

     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!

   • 1898, J Meade Falkner, “In the Vault”, in Moonfleet, London: Edward Arnold; Edinburgh: T and A Constable, , →OCLC; republished London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape , 1934, →OCLC, page 56:

     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. […]

   • 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. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC, page 67:

     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.

   • 1917 November, W B Yeats, “A Deep-Sworn Vow”, in The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, Churchtown, Dundrum : The Cuala Press, →OCLC, page 15:

     When I clamber to the heights of sleep, / Or when I grow excited with wine, / Suddenly I meet your face.

   • 2004, Shashi Deshpande, “Lost Springs”, in Collected Stories, volume II, New Delhi: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 70:

     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.

   • 2013, J M Coetzee, chapter 22, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 220:

     And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf.

• clammer (dialectal)

• clamberer
• clambersome

clamber (plural clambers)

1. The act of clambering; a difficult or haphazard climb.
   • 1814 February, J C Hobhouse, “A Journey through Albania, and Other Provinces of Turkey in Europe and Asia, to Constantinople, during the Years 1809 and 1810”, in The Literary Panorama , volume XV, London: Printed by Jones and Hatfield, , for C. Taylor, , →OCLC, column 147:

     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.

   • 1847 April 1–7, William Bennett, “Letter X. Dublin—Cahirciveen.”, in Narrative of a Recent Journey of Six Weeks in Ireland, , London: Charles Gilpin, ; John Hatchard & Son, ; Dublin: J. Curry, Jun. & Co., →OCLC, page 108:

     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.

   • 1863 October 3, Mary Eyre, “Saumur. Les Pierres Couvertes. Le Carrousel.”, in [Samuel Lucas], editor, Once a Week. An Illustrated Miscellany of Literature, Art, Science, & Popular Information, volume IX, number 223, London: Bradbury & Evans, , →OCLC, page 418, column 2:

     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.

   • 2005, Richard Mabey, “Lair”, in Nature Cure, London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN; republished Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2007, →ISBN, page 76:

     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).

• cambrel, cramble