1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. stair

Find the word definition

What is "stair"

Crossword clues for stair

stair
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
stair
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a stair carpet
▪ We need a new stair carpet.
steep stairs
▪ Martha led the way up the very steep stairs.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
back
▪ She put on her robe, lit the candle and went on tip-toe down the back stairs and into the kitchen.
▪ I was shown up a narrow back stair to a small white room with a very hard bed in one corner.
▪ Unfortunately it was the door that led to the back stairs.
▪ I set my mug aside, unplugged the coffeepot, locked the office, and trotted down the back stairs.
▪ At the top of the back stairs I made them wait.
▪ You came up the back stairs?
▪ Shaking the snow off their hair and coats, the girls skitter up the back stairs into the factory.
▪ With this intention firmly planted in her mind, she headed for the back stairs leading down into the kitchens.
bottom
▪ I glimpsed Auntie sitting on the bottom stair as I flew past above her head.
▪ Liz stepped over the bottom stair, which always creaked.
▪ She stepped off the bottom stair on to a carpeted floor.
▪ I forgot I'd got them on and I slipped on the bottom stairs.
dark
▪ He climbed the dark, tortuous stairs heavily.
▪ The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
▪ My room is on top of a cloth-shop and I have to climb up a flight of dark stairs to get to it.
▪ Catherine said the music sounded sweeter from high up, and so she went to sit in the dark on the stairs.
▪ From the corner of his eye he sensed a movement in the dark beneath the stairs.
▪ They went through secret doors in the floors, then along passages and down dark stairs.
▪ The door opened six inches and she saw a sliver of dark landing, stairs coiling away to the street.
▪ There might well be a knife on a dark stair for me!
narrow
▪ He crossed the landing and mounted the narrow stairs to the attics.
▪ The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
▪ The narrow wooden stairs echoed as they ran up.
▪ The passages and narrow stairs made the effort very difficult, necessitating a change in the arrangements.
▪ As Grant hurried down the narrow concrete stairs, he felt the first warning stab of pain in his torn thigh muscle.
▪ We were ushered on to the coach and up narrow, winding stairs to our seats.
▪ Her heart was hammering as she went up the narrow, cheerless stairs she'd last climbed before her interview.
▪ I followed Polly up the narrow flight of stairs to the second floor.
steep
▪ I run between the concrete pillars holding up the elevated railway, on to the steep stairs.
▪ Bob balks at the steep stairs.
▪ I walk down the steep flight of stairs.
▪ The procession reached the foot of the long steep flight of stairs leading up to the temple.
▪ A church that stood upon a grassy hill and to which you mounted by a flight of steep stone stairs.
▪ Dismissed properly, they sprang into motion and took the steep stairs in a single leap.
▪ Size, the presence of steep stairs, dampness, and difficulty to heat, may mean that property is inappropriate.
▪ I had to drag Tom's pram up eighteen steep stairs.
wooden
▪ The narrow wooden stairs echoed as they ran up.
▪ Hughes went up the wooden stairs first.
▪ The wooden stairs along the north wall lead directly upwards to location 53. 32.
▪ Instead, a steep, wooden flight of stairs led down into the ground beneath me.
▪ The lodge contained a large hall below and a banqueting room above, connected by a grand wooden stair.
▪ Hughes walked up a short set of wooden stairs.
▪ Quickly, he ducked through the unadorned side door of the building and began climbing the four flights of rickety wooden stairs.
▪ From Boots, £3.65 for two. 5 Wooden stairs should have anti-slip strips.
■ NOUN
stone
▪ Holmes brushed aside an offer to wait, and we descended a set of echoing stone stairs.
▪ Heart thudding uncomfortably in my chest, I ran up the unlit stone stairs of the tenement.
▪ There is a fine oak carved overmantel and an old door opens on to the curved stone stair to the first floor.
▪ A stone stair against one wall led to the upper room.
▪ Quick footsteps on a stone stair startled me awake.
▪ I mounted the wide stone stairs of this block with Coleridge back in my mind.
▪ They proceeded up the stone stairs to the third floor.
■ VERB
begin
▪ Ralph his son and now his wife all began to climb the stairs to bed.
▪ She smiled, and then began to climb the stairs to the ground level and the shapechanger.
▪ Once under drugs, granny rose from her ground-floor death bed and with uncontrollable strength began to mount the stairs.
▪ Slowly, she began to climb the stairs again, resolved to return and put her case.
▪ He forced himself to bow politely, and then turned away and began to descend the stairs.
▪ Without a word, the woman began to ascend the stairs.
▪ Rain and Oliver began down the stairs.
climb
▪ Would it be best to accept another cup of tea before trying to climb the stairs?
▪ She climbed the stairs until she stood before me, I not daring to look up, staring at my black Keds.
▪ I watched Ilsa climb the stairs in the golden haze of the summer evening.
▪ She climbed stairs and peered through wide windows at the canyon and the forested land that stretched away to south and west.
▪ Even as we were climbing the stairs, we heard the hubbub.
▪ But some one was climbing the stairs.
▪ Stepping lightly, easy-footed, they had climbed the white stairs, leaving her down below.
come
▪ She heard the sound of voices coming up the stairs.
▪ I'd have seen it if I'd been coming down the stairs instead of in the lift.
▪ Marge was coming down the stairs, barefoot.
▪ If so, why did she scream and come running down the stairs like that?
▪ We could hear them coming up the stairs right to our door and then shouting and hammering on it.
▪ Then Mrs Washington came down the stairs, like a life-sized Winnie the Pooh.
creep
▪ Jenna crept down the stairs, pulling her dressing-gown closely round her, stumbling across the room to the door.
▪ I gave him another five, then crept up the stairs and peered into his room.
▪ At five o'clock she returned to the theatre and crept up the stairs to the dressing-room.
▪ I crept down the stairs, following the sound of voices.
▪ I pulled on a sweater and trousers and crept down the stairs in bare feet.
▪ I put my clothes on, and crept down the stairs.
▪ But it wasn't duty that took her from her bed creeping down the stairs.
▪ So she beckoned to Baptiste and he crept up the stairs after her, his shoes in his hand.
descend
▪ I have a vivid memory of her descending the stairs to the conservatory where we said our vows.
▪ What do I do there in my rooms before I descend the stairs, return through the door, and wake?
▪ And she descended the stairs and, tapping lightly on the door, turned the handle and went in.
▪ The little orchestra was playing a minuet when she began to descend the sumptuously draped stairs.
▪ Slowly I descended the stairs and went out into the courtyard.
▪ As she descended the stairs, she appreciated for the first time how far she had fallen from grace.
▪ Instead, they get the splendor of descending the stairs to their official welcome.
fall
▪ She could not bring herself to fall down the house stairs.
▪ And he would have been had he not fallen down the stairs.
▪ She tried to follow and almost fell down the stairs, gritting her teeth to prevent herself passing out.
▪ It was an accident - she fell down the stairs, they say.
▪ Lucy was appalled by the thought of her aunt falling down the stairs and now lying in pain.
▪ Eating out A retired solicitor hit his head when he fell down some stairs in a restaurant.
▪ I think he fell down the stairs, and he screamed for two or three minutes.
▪ I fell up the stairs running in my socks to clear it up.
follow
▪ Two men had followed him up the stairs.
▪ I said, and followed her up the stairs.
▪ She squeezed Julie's hand and motioned for her to follow down the stairs that led to the ground floor.
▪ He followed Lily up the stairs to their bedroom.
▪ He gestured with a long, withered arm for her to follow him up the stairs.
go
▪ At seven o'clock that night, William Darling went up the long stairs of the lighthouse to light the big oil lantern.
▪ All the same, it might be interesting ... As she went up the narrow stairs, Jennifer's heart was beating.
▪ I went up the stairs slowly, and paused at the window on the landing and looked down the street.
▪ She dressed while they waited, then they went down the greasy stairs into the street.
▪ The stairway went up ten stairs to a landing with a large window, then up another ten to the first floor.
▪ He had sworn that he would not stop to rest going down the stairs.
head
▪ I slipped out of bed, got into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and headed down the stairs.
▪ But Eugene was already headed up the stairs.
▪ I headed down the stairs into the silence of the early evening.
▪ I slipped my shoes on and left my handbag by the door, heading for the stairs.
hear
▪ And then, as I came out from under the stairs, I heard something moving upstairs.
▪ Even as we were climbing the stairs, we heard the hubbub.
▪ He was staring into the black well of the stairs when he heard the noises.
▪ She listened at the top of the stairs until she heard Trotter go into the downstairs bathroom.
▪ Unfortunately, as she descended the stairs, she heard raised voices from the study.
▪ As he went down the stairs he heard a voice and paused outside the room it issued from.
▪ And up the stairs I could hear him coming.
hurry
▪ Without hesitation, the sergeant swung round and hurried down the stairs as lightly as his own considerable bulk would allow.
▪ John caught Sarah's arm and hustled her into the sitting room while Emily hurried down the stairs to join them.
▪ Then she hurried down the eighty stairs to the clinic.
▪ Being hurried down stairs, trying to feel for the edge of the steps, unable to see, was very unnerving.
▪ Coming to a decision, she turned and hurried down the stairs.
lead
▪ There was no lino covering on the stairs leading to the second floor.
▪ It took Miguel a while before he found the stairs leading down to the basement.
▪ They were standing in a narrow hall, with a bicycle propped against one wall and stairs leading down to a basement.
▪ The procession reached the foot of the long steep flight of stairs leading up to the temple.
▪ Pausing a moment to work out the best route, the Doctor set off to find a stair leading down.
▪ Instead, a steep, wooden flight of stairs led down into the ground beneath me.
▪ Then he violently shoved her down the small flight of stairs that led off their bedroom to the bathroom.
▪ To his left a shallow flight of oak stairs led to a narrow gallery from which led a number of doors.
mount
▪ He crossed the landing and mounted the narrow stairs to the attics.
▪ In the end I gave in and reluctantly mounted the narrow stairs.
▪ Once under drugs, granny rose from her ground-floor death bed and with uncontrollable strength began to mount the stairs.
▪ In a lull, she drifted up to see to the babies, but misjudged mounting the stair.
▪ He began to mount the uncarpeted stairs.
▪ He sighed deeply then mounted the stairs and looked around him slowly.
▪ As Big Ben struck two little Alistair mounted the stairs.
open
▪ She grabbed her black crocheted shawl and velvet evening bag, and hurried down the stairs to open the door.
run
▪ Léonie ran up the stairs to the grenier and reappeared holding a basket of plums.
▪ Then the boy ran up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door.
▪ She ran up the stairs to go to the toilet to be sick but collapsed on the landing.
▪ I grabbed the door handle, pulled the door open against the force of the wind, and ran up the stairs.
▪ She ran up the stairs into her room.
▪ She ran down the stairs and opened the glass door, and Catriona followed.
▪ She heard him running lightly down the stairs, and breathed a long sigh of relief.
▪ He was running down the stairs.
sit
▪ Feeling that she could not move her left arm or leg, she sat down on the stairs.
▪ Toos and Alvin Sharpes arrived and sat on the stairs to listen to the story and stare at the storyteller.
▪ I sat on the stairs near the drawing-room, listening.
▪ We sat on the front stairs of our house.
▪ I sighed and sat down on the stairs.
▪ I went out in the hall and sat on the top stair and looked down the stairwell.
stand
▪ She climbed the stairs until she stood before me, I not daring to look up, staring at my black Keds.
▪ Recalling this, I quietly tread the stairs and stand in the dark hall outside his door.
▪ He was at the foot of the stairs, standing for a moment on his own, no-one around.
start
▪ Side by side, they started down the stairs.
▪ By the time I got through the back door and started climbing the stairs, however, all was quiet again.
▪ They started down the stairs, stumbling against one another in their mirth.
▪ The feet, which had started down the stairs, came back.
turn
▪ Now I have stairs which actually turn the corner into a splendid hall.
▪ The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
▪ The stairs then retract, turning the stairway into a sheer slope and dumping the adventurers down to the bottom.
▪ Standing at the bottom of the stairs, turning up the gas, revealing her in a pool of light.
▪ At the same moment, at the top of the stairs, Doyle turned off the music.
walk
▪ All they need to do is walk down the stairs and it'd be the right time.
▪ They improved walking speed, stair climbing, balance and spontaneous daily activity.
▪ I might have known Lisabeth wouldn't have walked up the stairs herself to leave the note.
▪ He turned off the light, walked quietly to the stairs, and started up.
▪ After the meal she escaped as soon as she could and found herself walking up the stairs with Mitch.
▪ Quincy is walking down the stairs looking shiny and brand-new.
▪ I walked up the stairs and over to the door.
▪ He closed the door to the belfry; and walked to the stairs.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ I heard footsteps coming up the stair.
▪ The second stair creaks when you step on it.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As I climbed the stairs I wondered if I could handle the present situation calmly and tactfully even a bit subserviently.
▪ Every flush meant carrying a bucket of water up three flights of stairs.
▪ Friends will call, thundering up and down the stairs.
▪ Her head pounding, she took the stairs to the second floor two at a time.
▪ I can hear him on the stairs.
▪ The original idea was that the library would be symmetrical with the entrance and stairs in the centre.
▪ They carried her up and down the stairs, sang her songs.
▪ Would it be best to accept another cup of tea before trying to climb the stairs?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stair

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.]

  1. One step of a series for ascending or descending to a different level; -- commonly applied to those within a building.

  2. 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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
stair

Old English stæger "stair, flight of steps, staircase," from Proto-Germanic *staigri (cognates: Middle Dutch stegher, Dutch steiger "a stair, step, quay, pier, scaffold;" German Steig "path," Old English stig "narrow path"), from PIE *steigh- "go, rise, stride, step, walk" (cognates: Greek steikhein "to go, march in order," stikhos "row, line, rank, verse;" Sanskrit stighnoti "mounts, rises, steps;" Old Church Slavonic stignati "to overtake," stigna "place;" Lithuanian staiga "suddenly;" Old Irish tiagaim "I walk;" Welsh taith "going, walk, way"). Originally also a collective plural; stairs developed by late 14c.

Wiktionary
stair

n. 1 A single step in a staircase. 2 A series of steps, a staircase.

Related phrases:
WordNet
stair

n. support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway; "he paused on the bottom step" [syn: step]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Stair (disambiguation)

A stair is part of a flight of steps.

Stair may also refer to:

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "stair".

If it be constructed under the main body only, an offset should be excavated to accommodate the cellar stairs, three feet in width, and walled in with the rest.

If he was alive when he was forced to the stairs he would have put up some kind of struggle.

When the Oliat came to the foot of the stairs, she surprised herself with the smoothness of her deep obeisance, for the first time expressing, in the movement of her body, the emotions she felt for the Allegiancy Empire, the first galactic civilization granting full rights to all species.

And suddenly and most wonderfully the door of the room upstairs opened of its own accord, and as they looked up in amazement, they saw descending the stairs the muffled figure of the stranger staring more blackly and blankly than ever with those unreasonably large blue glass eyes of his.

The five flights of stairs, from cellar to fourth floor, ascended in an angulated corkscrew fenced on one side by the wall and on the side of the stairwell by the high iron grating that graced all public areas in the psych ward, a net of metal girding the world into two-inch squares.

The most annoying aspect of the whole situation was Thomas Christie, standing at the foot of the stairs with a mug of beer in his hand, watching as I was led off, and wearing the only grin I had ever seen on his hairy face.

I remained awake, staring at the mysterious reach of the old prison that lay beyond the ninth stair, the dim white lights and anthracitic cell mouths.

She drank so much anisette that she had to be helped up the stairs, and she suffered an attack of laughing until she cried, which alarmed everyone.

At the time she had not known about old plaster, old stairs, old walls, nothing about splintered woodwork and senile plumbing-either balky or incontinent.

Under his dark eyebrows, Junior glared at his father, kneading the wooden baluster at the bottom of the stairs.

She came to the head of the stairs, stretched out one hand to the baluster rail and then, unaccountably, she stumbled, tried to recover her balance, failed and went headlong down the stairs.

She descended the stairs, noting the dust that had collected between the balusters, and went in search of the breakfast room.

If you wanted to stretch a piece of strong thread or wire across the top of the stairs about a foot from the ground, you could tie it one side to the balusters, but on the inner wall side you would need something like a nail to attach the thread to.

On the following evening, the Tuesday, someone attached a string or thread from the nail to the balusters with the result that when Miss Arundell came out of her room she caught her foot in it and went headlong down the stairs.

HALLWAY - SAME TIME Barnes leads Norman along the hallway and down some stairs.