0 a piece of equipment used for climbing up and down, that consists of two vertical bars or pieces of rope joined to each other by a set of horizontal steps -- 梯子
1 a series of increasingly important jobs or stages in a particular type of work or process -- （职位晋升的）阶梯；（发展的）阶段
2 a long, vertical hole in a pair of tights or a stocking -- （紧身裤袜或长筒袜的）抽丝，滑丝
3 (in particular sports) a system in which all the players who play regularly are given a position in a list and can improve their position by beating other players in that list -- （某项体育比赛采用的）阶梯晋级赛
a squash ladder 壁球阶梯晋级赛
4 If a pair of tights or a stocking ladders or if you ladder it, a long hole appears in it. -- （紧身衣、袜子）抽丝；被刮破
Getting up the ladder was easy enough - it was coming down that was the problem.
Rising levels of net disposable income allowed town-dwellers to climb the housing ladder, thereby reducing some at least of the ravages of infection.
Those who could adjust often ascended the social ladders that were newly created.
Both of these suffixes are obligatory, and show respect for those higher up on the social-stratification ladder.
