escalade

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: es=ca=lade

CIDE DICTIONARY

escalade, n. [F., Sp. escalada (cf. It. scalata), fr. Sp. escalar to scale, LL. scalare, fr. L. scala ladder. See Scale, v. t.].

 A furious attack made by troops on a fortified place, in which ladders are used to pass a ditch or mount a rampart.  [1913 Webster]
"Sin enters, not by escalade, but by cunning or treachery."  [1913 Webster]

escalade, v. t. 

 To mount and pass or enter by means of ladders; to scale; as, to escalate a wall.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

escalade, n. the scaling of fortified walls with ladders, as a military attack.

Etymology

F f. Sp. escalada, -ado f. med.L scalare f. scala ladder

ROGET THESAURUS

escalade

Attack

N attack, assault, assault and battery, onset, onslaught, charge, aggression, offense, incursion, inroad, invasion, irruption, outbreak, estrapade, ruade, coupe de main, sally, sortie, camisade, raid, foray, run at, run against, dead set at, storm, storming, boarding, escalade, siege, investment, obsession, bombardment, cannonade, fire, volley, platoon fire, file fire, fusillade, sharpshooting, broadside, raking fire, cross fire, volley of grapeshot, whiff of the grape, feu d'enfer, cut, thrust, lunge, pass, passado, carte and tierce, home thrust, coupe de bec, kick, punch, battue, razzia, Jacquerie, dragonnade, devastation, eboulement, assailant, aggressor, invader, base of operations, point of attack, echelon, attacking, aggressive, offensive, obsidional, up in arms, on the offensive, Int, up and at them!, the din of arms, the yell of savage rage, the shriek of agony, the groan of death, their fatal hands no second stroke intend, thirst for glory quells the love of life.

Ascent

VB ascend, rise, mount, arise, uprise, go up, get up, work one's way up, start up, shoot up, go into orbit, float up, bubble up, aspire, climb, clamber, ramp, scramble, escalade, surmount, shin, shinny, shinney, scale, scale the heights, raise, elevate, go aloft, fly aloft, tower, soar, take off, spring up, pop up, jump up, catapult upwards, explode upwards, hover, spire, plane, swim, float, surge, leap.