subs. and verb (colloquial).—The abandonment of a position; downward or retrograde motion; the act of surrender. At first American.
1871. REV. H. W. BEECHER, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in de Vere’s Americanisms. To CLIMB DOWN the wall was easy enough, too easy for a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly CLIMBED down, and wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get myself in than to get the flowers out.
1889. St. James’s Gazette, 22 Nov., p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble conduct of the Bread Union, the first to CLIMB DOWN, and the promptest to send in its little bill.
1890. Globe, 7 April, p. 2, col. 2. It is satisfactory to learn on no less an authority than that of the New York Herald that the general election may at the moment be regarded remote. This is indeed a CLIMB DOWN on the part of the chief disseminator of the Dissolution rumour.
1890. Globe, 19 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. Mr. MacNeill’s ‘personal statement’ in the House yesterday was distinctly in the nature of a CLIMB DOWN.
