1. ladder - Noun
2. ladder - Verb
A frame usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened cross strips or rounds forming steps.
That which resembles a ladder in form or use; hence, that by means of which one attains to eminence.
Source: Webster's dictionaryShe's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong. Mae West
Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount. Clare Boothe Luce
We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot. Augustine of Hippo
If a woman hears that something unusual is going on in heaven, she would find a ladder to go and look. Armenian Proverb
Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky. American Proverb
Life is a ladder -- some will climb up it, others down. Bulgarian Proverb