Ladders

About

"A frame of wood, metal, or rope, usually portable, and consisting essentially of two side-pieces connected at suitable distances by cross-pieces, generally in the form of rounds or rungs, forming steps by which, when the frame is properly set, a person may ascend a height. A ladder differs from a stair in that it has treads, but no risers. There are many forms of ladders, adapted to different uses, as the step-ladder, standing-ladder, companion-ladder, collapsing-ladder, scalin|g| ladder, etc. A firemen's scaling-ladder is now used consisting of one pole only with steps on each side and a large barbed hook at the top. In use, the hook is caught in a window-sill, the fireman climbs to the window by the pole, and then raises it to the next window, and so on."

--Century Dictionary