Increases in intensity, seriousness, or level; moves up to a higher stage.
From escalade (to climb) via escalator. The word comes from Medieval Latin 'scalae' (ladder/stairs), with the mechanical escalator invented in 1900 making the metaphor vivid and modern.
The word literally comes from 'escalator'—when the mechanical escalator was invented, people loved the metaphor of situations 'escalating' like people on a moving staircase climbing higher and higher.
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