κλῖμαξ

1. a ladder or staircase (because of its leaning aslant) , (Odyssey by Homer), etc.:—; a scaling-ladder , (Thucydides); κλίμακος προσαμβάσεις (Aeschulus Tragicus):—; a ship's ladder , (Euripides)

2. a frame with cross-bars , on which persons to be tortured were tied, (Aristophanes Comicus)

3. in (Sophocles Tragicus), κλίμακες ἀμφίπλεκτοι intertwining ladders , to express the entanglement of the limbs of wrestlers.

4. a climax , i. e. a gradual ascent from weaker expressions to stronger, Lat. gradatio, as Cicero's abiit, evasit, erupit. (ML)