The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stair \Stair\ (st[^a]r), n. [OE. steir, steyer, AS. st[=ae]ger, from st[imac]gan to ascend, rise. [root]164. See Sty to ascend.]
One step of a series for ascending or descending to a different level; -- commonly applied to those within a building.
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A series of steps, as for passing from one story of a house to another; -- commonly used in the plural; but originally used in the singular only. ``I a winding stair found.''
--Chaucer's Dream.Below stairs, in the basement or lower part of a house, where the servants are.
Flight of stairs, the stairs which make the whole ascent of a story.
Pair of stairs, a set or flight of stairs. -- pair, in this phrase, having its old meaning of a set. See Pair, n., 1.
Run of stairs (Arch.), a single set of stairs, or section of a stairway, from one platform to the next.
Stair rod, a rod, usually of metal, for holding a stair carpet to its place.
Up stairs. See Upstairs in the Vocabulary.
Wiktionary
n. (context chiefly British rare or dated English) A flight of stairs
Usage examples of "pair of stairs".
There was a built-in ladder which allowed access to the roof, and a pair of stairs bolted beneath the doorway.
The room, or rather garret, in which Molly lay, being up one pair of stairs, that is to say, at the top of the house, was of a sloping figure, resembling the great Delta of the Greeks.