The Collaborative International Dictionary
Climax \Cli"max\, n. [L., from Gr. ? ladder, staircase, fr. ? to make to bend, to lean. See Ladder, Lean, v. i.]
Upward movement; steady increase; gradation; ascent.
--Glanvill.-
(Rhet.) A figure in which the parts of a sentence or paragraph are so arranged that each succeeding one rises above its predecessor in impressiveness.
``Tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope'' -- a happy climax.
--J. D. Forbes. -
The highest point; the greatest degree.
We must look higher for the climax of earthly good.
--I. Taylor.To cap the climax, to surpass everything, as in excellence or in absurdity. [Colloq.]
Usage examples of "to cap the climax".
Then, to cap the climax, following the example of the Commune, no accounts are rendered, or, if this is done for form's sake, no fault must be found with them, under penalty of suspicion, etc.
He saved them from all manner of terrible beasts, and accomplished the most wonderful feats imaginable, and then to cap the climax he fell in love with Jane and she with him, though she never really knew it for sure until she had promised herself to Lord Greystoke.
And to cap the climax, a play is presented for his edification, and it is this play which is what we usually think of as The Taming of the Shrew.
And, to cap the climax of their base ingratitude and fiendish barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old master and all his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of them, and her present owners finding she was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast stealing over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of .