different between ladder vs null

English

Alternative forms

• ledder (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English ladder, laddre, from Old English hl?der, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrij? (compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, leer, German Leiter), from Proto-Indo-European *?leytro (compare Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), Umbrian ???????????????????????????? (kletram, “stretcher”)), from Proto-Indo-European *?ley- (“to lean”). See lean, which is related to lid.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?lad?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?læd?/, [?læ??]
  • Homophone: latter (in accents with flapping)
• Rhymes: -æd?(r)
• Hyphenation: lad?der

Noun

ladder (plural ladders)

1. A frame, usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, used for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened rungs (cross strips or rounds acting as steps).
2. (figuratively) A series of stages by which one progresses to a better position.
3. (figuratively) The hierarchy or ranking system within an organization, such as the corporate ladder.
5. (chiefly Britain) A length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings; a run.
6. In the game of go, a sequence of moves following a zigzag pattern and ultimately leading to the capture of the attacked stones.

Usage notes

For stockings touted as resistant to ladders (unraveling), the phrase “ladder resist” is used in the UK. The American equivalent is “run resistant”.

Synonyms

• (frame for ascent and descent): stepladder
• (unravelled fabric): run (primarily US)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

ladder (third-person singular simple present ladders, present participle laddering, simple past and past participle laddered)

1. To arrange or form into a shape of a ladder.
2. (chiefly firefighting) To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.
4. Of a knitted garment: to develop a ladder as a result of a broken thread.
   • 1993, Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong, London: Hutchinson, ISBN 978-0-09-177373-1; republished as Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, June 1997, ISBN 978-0-679-77681-9, page 254:

     He slid his hand up her skirt and murmured in her ear. / "Robert, I've just got dressed. Stop it." […] / He laddered her stocking and smudged her lipstick, but she had time to repair the damage before they went out.
5. (Britain, naval slang) To close in on a target with successive salvos, increasing or decreasing the shot range as necessary.
   • 2007, Peter Smith, Naval Warfare in the English Channel: 1939-1945 (page 134)

     For eighteen minutes Revenge pounded the dockyard area at an average range of 15,700 yards, spreading for line and laddering for range to a prearranged plan to cover the whole target area.

   • 2014, Norman Friedman, Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns & Gunnery

     Laddering made it possible to get a few hits on a fast-moving, often manoeuvring, target.

Anagrams

• Aldred, larded, raddle

Dutch

Alternative forms

• leeder (obsolete)
• leer (dialectal, dated)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ladere, from Old Frisian hladder, hledder, hleder, hl?rde, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrij?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?.d?r/
• Hyphenation: lad?der
• Rhymes: -?d?r

Noun

ladder f (plural ladders, diminutive laddertje n)

1. A ladder.
2. (clothing) A ladder, a run (length of unravelled fabric).

Meronyms

• sport

Derived terms

• toonladder
• touwladder

Descendants

• Afrikaans: leer
  • ? Sotho: lere
  • ? Xhosa: ileli

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) læddræ, leaddre, læddre
• laddre, ladre, leddre, ledder, laddir, lheddre, leddyr

Etymology

From Old English hl?der, hlædder, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrij?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lad?r/, /?l?d?r/, /?l??d?r/

Noun

ladder (plural laddres or laddren)

1. ladder (set of portable steps):
   1. (figuratively, religion) A symbolisation of the link from the heavens to the world.
   2. (figuratively, rare) A method or way of achievement consisting of multiple steps.
2. (rare) A frame for a cart.

Descendants

• English: ladder
• Scots: ledder

References

• “ladder(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-27.

English

Alternative forms

• Ø (linguistics, abbreviation)
• ? (mathematics, abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French nul, from Latin n?llus.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /n?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

null (plural nulls)

1. A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
2. Zero quantity of expressions; nothing.
3. Something that has no force or meaning.
4. (computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (?), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
5. (computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.

   Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null.

6. One of the beads in nulled work.
7. (statistics) Null hypothesis.

Translations

Adjective

null (comparative more null, superlative most null)

1. Having no validity; "null and void"
2. Insignificant.
   • 1924, Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove:

     In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.

3. Absent or non-existent.
4. (mathematics) Of the null set.
5. (mathematics) Of or comprising a value of precisely zero.
6. (genetics, of a mutation) Causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.

Antonyms

• antinull
• non-null

Derived terms

• null determiner
• nullary
• nullity

Verb

null (third-person singular simple present nulls, present participle nulling, simple past and past participle nulled)

1. (transitive, archaic) To nullify; to annul.
2. To form nulls, or into nulls, as in a lathe.
3. (computing, slang, transitive) To crack; to remove restrictions or limitations in (software).

Related terms

• annul
• nulled work

See also

• nil

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Latin n?llus (“none”).

Numeral

null

1. (Luserna) zero

References

• “null” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Estonian

Numeral

null

1. zero

Faroese

Etymology

From Latin nullus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Numeral

null

1. zero

Noun

null n (genitive singular nuls, plural null)

1. (mathematics) the numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero

Declension

German

Etymology

From the noun Null (“the number zero”), from Italian nulla, from Latin nulla, feminine singular of nullus (“no, none”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l/

Numeral

null

1. zero; nil; nought; (tennis) love (integer number between -1 and 1, denoting no quantity at all)

2. (colloquial) zero; no

   Synonym: (überhaupt) kein

Coordinate terms

Adjective

null (not comparable)

1. (specialist, law, chiefly predicative) null (having no validity)

Declension

Derived terms

• null und nichtig (also in common use)

Further reading

• “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online; cp. “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online
• “null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache; cp. “Null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nul/

Numeral

null

1. zero

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin nullus (“no one, none, no”), from Proto-Italic *ne oinolos, from Proto-Italic *oinos (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”).

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null penger - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nuller, definite plural nullene)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null or nuller, definite plural nulla or nullene)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nullstille
• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin nullus

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null pengar - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nullar, definite plural nullane)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null, definite plural nulla)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German null.

Numeral

null

1. zero