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STAIRCASE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A way of access (upward and downward) consisting of a set of steps
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("staircase" is a kind of...):
way (any artifact consisting of a road or path affording passage from one place to another)
Meronyms (parts of "staircase"):
landing (an intermediate platform in a staircase)
stairhead (platform at the top of a staircase)
stair; step (support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "staircase"):
backstairs (a second staircase at the rear of a building)
companionway (a stairway or ladder that leads from one deck to another on a ship)
escalator; moving staircase; moving stairway (a stairway whose steps move continuously on a circulating belt)
emergency exit; fire escape (a stairway (often on the outside of a building) that permits exit in the case of fire or other emergency)
flight; flight of stairs; flight of steps (a stairway (set of steps) between one floor or landing and the next)
ghat (stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water)
stairs; steps (a flight of stairs or a flight of steps)
ramp (a movable staircase that passengers use to board or leave an aircraft)
Holonyms ("staircase" is a part of...):
building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)
Context examples:
A choking smoke filled the air, and the five could scarce grope their way to the staircase which led up to the very summit of the square tower.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Gregson climbed the stair to arrest this desperate murderer with the same absolutely quiet and businesslike bearing with which he would have ascended the official staircase of Scotland Yard.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was a labyrinth of an old house, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was a duplex that also offered an elevator, and inside the apartment, a spiral staircase linked the upstairs bedrooms from the large living room.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Mr. Gardiner, highly amused by the kind of family prejudice to which he attributed her excessive commendation of her master, soon led again to the subject; and she dwelt with energy on his many merits as they proceeded together up the great staircase.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
As he came down the great staircase at last, after Mrs. Rochester had flung herself from the battlements, there was a great crash—all fell.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
May we go up every staircase, and into every suite of rooms?
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Pray take care, Miss Woodhouse, ours is rather a dark staircase—rather darker and narrower than one could wish.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
