Definition of "ascender" []

• One that ascends. (noun)
• Printing The part of the tall lowercase letters, such as b, d, and h, that extends above the other lowercase letters. (noun)
• Printing A letter with such a part. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The ascender clips slide up and then lock in place, anchoring me to the rope as I pull and push, crunching and extending my body, inchworming through the open air, the lowest branches 150 feet above the ground."
• "I attach my ascender clips — big metal grips shaped like a smile — one at eye level, the other aligned with my knees."
• "I unhook my ascender and switch over to a descender, not really ready to leave, to drop through the branches and return to the ground, and in this moment of readjustment, of powering my body down and trying to memorize the view, I recognize the feeling."