Jacob's ladder
- noun
- /ˈdʒeɪkəbs ˈlædər/
- Specialized
:
escalera de Jacob
- She identified the plant as a Jacob's ladder because of its distinctive leaf pattern.
Examples
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Gardeners often grow Jacob's ladder for its attractive foliage and blossoms.
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The Jacob's ladder in my garden produces delicate blue flowers every spring.
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I planted a beautiful Jacob's ladder in my garden.
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The Jacob's ladder blooms in spring with lovely blue flowers.
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In the spring, Jacob's ladder blooms with beautiful clusters of blue flowers in the garden.
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The garden featured a lovely variety of plants, including Jacob's ladder with its elegant pinnate leaves.
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She admired the Jacob's ladder for its lush foliage and delicate white blossoms.
Synonyms
A plant that lives for several years with feather-like leaves and blue or white flowers called Jacob's ladder
A plant that lives many years with divided leaves and bright blue or white flowers in European woods
A plant that lives for many years with divided leaves and bright blue or white flowers native to Europe
A woodland flower with small blue flowers and leaves like a ladder
A group of plants called Jacob's ladder with blue flowers and ladder-like leaves
Surface Forms
Morphology
Jacob's + ladder
The constituent 'ladder' makes clear this is some kind of ladder, but the possessive proper name 'Jacob's' does not transparently indicate the specific form (a hanging rope or chain ladder) or nautical use. The phrase is a conventionalized name for a particular type of ladder, so a B1 learner would guess it's a ladder but would not reliably infer the precise meaning or form without prior exposure.
Etymology
Jacob's ladder is a plant with many small leaves placed one above another like the steps of a ladder, so people thought of Jacob's dream of a ladder to 'heaven' and named the flower after it.
