Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to be hanged.

1560		Nice Wanton Bi: Thou boy, by the masse ye wyll clyme the ladder.
1608		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 2 (1630) IV i: Hue and cry is vp. Warrants are out, and I shall see thee climbe a Ladder.

see under leafless tree n.

(orig. US black) to die.

2000

(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad 33: Climb the six-foot ladder To die, to be buried.

see under stalk n.

(Aus.) to be hanged.

1912

Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Oct. 12/4: There died recently in Maoriland a man who, 49 long years ago, was ordered by a Judge to dance on the air or to climb a tree by his neck.

to be hanged.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 31: And repentaunce is neuer thought vpon vntyll they clyme three tres with a ladder.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions .
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US) an arrogant, ‘stuck-up’ person; also as adj., snobbish.

1866

G.W. Harris ‘Sut Lovingoods Big Dinner Story’ Nashville Union and American XXXIII Aug. in Inge (1967) 166: She coaxed old climb-a-pole outen the kitchen. [Ibid.] 167: That wer another climb-a-pole idea she’d picked up some whar.

1. to trounce, to defeat heavily.

1889		Wahpeton Times (Dakota, ND) 29 June 2/5: Mr Gus Johnson opened the battle with half a stack, and Elder Jubilee Anderson promptly raised him $4. Mr Cyanide Whiffles climbed all over that.
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘An Idyll of Dandaloo’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 39: Shall we sit still, and make no fuss / While this chap climbs all over us?

2. (also climb, climb into) to attack physically.

1919		St Louis Post-Despatch 16 Jan. 25/2: If the Old One gets wise that you started a mattance (exchange of shots, fusillade) outside, he’ll climb you!
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 197: If you repeated it [i.e a remark] he’d offer to climb all over you for a nickel.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 134: ‘We showed those hicks who’s boss out of town, didn’t we, chum?’ He yawned. ‘They climbed all over you,’ Roy agreed.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 48: climb into Attack, physically or verbally.

3. (also climb into) to attack verbally, to reprimand.

c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Climb Somebody: Scold or razz.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 40: He starts to climb all over me. Called me a son of a bitch.
2003		see sense 2.

4. to maul sexually, usu. spoken by a woman of a man.

1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 286: Copper, correct me if I’m wrong, but I could climb all over him.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 43: The girls climbed all over him. Pourin’ him wine, purrin’ and strokin’ .

(US) to overcome easily, to get the better of, esp. by trickery.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

to get drunk.

1976

J.W. Dean III Blind Ambition 173: I climbed into my Scotch bottle in the safety of my home.

see under frame n.¹

1. (US) to die.

1883		San Antonio Light (TX) 2 Aug. 4/2: A colored woman [...] was found insensible [...] she had taken morphine with the intention of climbing the golden staircase.
1883		Reynolds’s Newspaper 1 July 5/1: A divorce followed, and Major Alec Rolls became Miss Barry’s spouse. Soon after he climbed the golden staircase, and the widow again became the bride of Henry Bolam.
1890		Sporting Times 12 Apr. 2/1: In less than a fortnight, Rosie shinned up the golden staircase.
1900		Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 12 Jan. 3/2: By the end of the year some of us would be climbing un the golden stairs, unless we got stronger inducement to remain on this mud planet than could be purchased for a weekly income of ten shillings.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 79/2: Climb the Golden Staircase, To (Amer.). One of the U.S.A. equivalents to the Latin ‘join the majority’.

2. to fail badly.

1883

in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era (1909) 79/2: Edward’s Folly Dramatic Company is reported as having climbed the golden stairs. The cash assets are alleged to have been carefully secured in a pill box.

to die.

1890

Bird o’ Freedom 1 Jan. 1/2: An American doctor, who has recently ‘climbed the greasy,’ left five hundred dollars to be devoted to oysters and champagne, to be consumed after his cremation.

to take one’s possessions to the pawnshop.

1891		Nottingham Journal 15 Apr. 6/3: At Monte Carlo [...] [s]he lost so much money that she had to ‘climb the mountain of piety.’ (Laughter.) She also pawned all her jewellery.
1896		Daily News 15 Apr. in Ware (1909) 79/2: Mr Candy: On one occasion, I think, you had to resort to what is called ‘climbing the mountain of piety’?
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

(NZ und.) to work as a cat burglar.

1933

King’s Co. Chron. 5 Jan. 8: Climbing the spot — A cat burglary.

(Aud.) to masturbate.

c.1943

S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 8: drain the snake: To masturbate. [Hand-written MS addition: climb the wire, flog the lizard].

(Aus.) the rote male answer to the query ‘getting any?’; allied phrs. incl. got to swim underwater to get away from it, so busy I’ve had to put a man on to help.

1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 124: The jocular greeting between man and man, getting’ any? which draws such set replies as climbing trees to get away from it! got to swim under water to dodge it! and so busy I've had to put a man on!
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 174: ‘Getting any, smacker?’ I’d ask him. More often than not he’d come back at me, ‘I’ve got to climb trees to get away from it’. [...] ‘I’ll come to you for a knockdown if I get hard up’.
1982		R. Muller Virginities 47: ‘Gettin’ any lately?’ the Ghoul greets me glumly. ‘Got to swim under water to dodge it,’ one replies, insouciantly.
1998		K. Dunstan in Age (Melbourne) 16 Feb. 🌐 On the more vulgar side, there is the query, ‘Getting any?’ For the correct replies one has to go to that eminent authority on Australian slang, the late Sidney Baker. 1. ‘Climbing trees to get away from it.’ 2. ‘Got to swim under water to dodge it.’ 3. ‘So busy I’ve had to put a man on.’.
2002		R. Treborlang at www.majormitchell.com.au 🌐 ‘Getting any, mate?’ ‘Climbing trees to get away from it! What about you, mate? Getting any?’ ‘Got to swim under water to dodge it!’.
2013		C. Jarman Cocky’s Cold War 121: ‘G’day, mate, gettin’ any? [...] ‘Yeah, climbing trees to get away from it’.
2015		A. Watkins-Groves Shouting Horseman 289: ‘So, how about you then Smudge, you still getting plenty?’ ‘Climbing trees to get away from it,’ said Smudge.

see under ass n.

1. to lose one’s temper, to run out of patience.

1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 97: ‘How about the girl-friend?’ ‘Don’t mention it. She’ll climb the wall. She shot the works on that dog of hers.’.
1945		J. Henderson Gunner Inglorious (1974) 74: We described this impotent writhing as ‘climbing up the wall’.
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 297: No need to climb up the bloody wall. I only asked.

2. to approach insanity through nerves, irritation, tension, etc.

1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 230: All of them fighting their problem . . . some fighting, some climbing the walls.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 155: She figured Stony was climbing the walls with horniness.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 20: Dry as a bone and climbin the fuckin walls.
2010		K. Richards Life 410: Jane got me through the seventy-two hours [of withdrawal]. She watched me climb the walls.

3. to become highly excited.

1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 140: She was tellin’ her friends how she made a horny Porty Rican climb the side of the wall on a subway train just by wiggling her white snatch against his black cock.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 102: It was suspected that sometimes she, too, was climbing up the wall.
1988		N. Eastwood Gardener Got Her n.p.: He hasn’t been back since, and I’ve been climbing the walls.
2000		M.E. Dassad ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 I paced around my apartment [...] showered, paced, climbed the fucking walls, and headed back to the room over the arcade.

(US) a general excl. of dismissal.

1938		W. Smitter F.O.B. Detroit 69: Aw, climb a tree.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 6 Feb. [synd. col.] Bravo to the British Broadcasting company for telling the Reich to go climb a tree when the Heinies squawked about England’s wireless.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 59: Go climb the chain.
1943		R. Chandler Lady in the Lake (1952) 22: Go climb up your thumb, wise guy.
1952		M.F. Caulfield Black City 11: ‘Got a match, Sammy?’ asked the man. [...] ‘Go climb a wall,’ said Flynn. [...] ‘Give us a light.’ ‘Go and bollix, ’ said Flynn.