escalate

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To increase (something) in extent or intensity

   To increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up.

   • Violence escalated during the election.
   • The shooting escalated the existing hostility.
   • A small fight escalated into a big fight.
2. 2

   In technical support, to transfer a customer, a problem, etc. to the next higher level of…

   In technical support, to transfer a customer, a problem, etc. to the next higher level of authority

   • The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2.
3. 3

   To climb.

   • Thus, actually a prior uncounselled misdemeanor conviction may often prove to be a boon to one escalating the ladder of crime to the point where he has been convicted of a major aggravated offense.
   • They escalated upstairs to the Mall coffee tables.
   • Firms move to higher and higher levels of conflict in each arena, as if they are escalating up a ladder with each rung representing the new level of competition introduced by the last competitive maneuver.
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      To move by escalator.

      • Escalator after escalator flowed up to the heights above, […] Dov escalated up beside me, scowling.
      • There were people just about everywhere, packing the garish fluorescent-lit corridors, riding in humming golf carts, escalating up and down escalators, floating along on those George Jetson moving sidewalk thingies.
      • Escalating up the up escalator at Green Park Tube station was a hundred times better than walking up two loads of steps at Oxford Circus.

The neighborhood

• neighborescalator
• neighborscale