To climb or ascend; to scale upward or escalate in intensity (archaic or rare form).
From Latin ex- (out/up) + calate (possibly from scalo or scalae, stairs/ladder). May be related to escalate, which comes from the same root.
This rare verb shows how 'escalate' got its modern meaning about increasing intensity—it literally started as 'climbing up' on stairs. We still climb conflicts like we climb mountains.
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