jacob's ladder
• noun
In biblical tradition, the ladder leading from earth to heaven that the patriarch Jacob envisioned angels ascending and descending in a dream (Book of Genesis).
"The Renaissance fresco vividly depicted angels ascending Jacob's ladder into the clouds."
A hardy perennial herbaceous plant of the phlox family (Polemonium caeruleum and related species), native to temperate Eurasia and North America, cultivated for its fern-like pinnate leaves arranged like the rungs of a ladder and its loose clusters of cup-shaped blue, violet, or white blossoms.
"Clusters of blue Jacob's ladder bloomed along the shaded border of the woodland garden in late spring."
On a ship, a flexible hanging ladder composed of wooden or metal rungs fastened between two vertical ropes, typically suspended over the side for boarding or disembarking.
"The harbor pilot carefully climbed the swaying Jacob's ladder to board the cargo vessel."
A traditional folk toy consisting of several flat wooden blocks connected by ribbons that appear to cascade or tumble over one another when the top block is tilted.
"The children were fascinated by the optical illusion of the wooden Jacob's ladder clattering down in her hands."
A high-voltage electrical device consisting of two upward-diverging metal rods between which a visible electric arc ignites at the bottom and rises repeatedly to the top.
"A crackling spark climbed the Jacob's ladder in the corner of the physics laboratory."