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Webster 1913 Edition

Stair

Stair

(stâr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
steir
,
steyer
, AS.
stǣger
, from
stīgan
to ascend, rise. √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
,
Noun.
, 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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Stair

STAIR

,
Noun.
1.
A step; a stone or a frame of boards or planks by which a person rises one step. A stair, to make the ascent easy, should not exceed six or seven inches in elevation. When the riser is eight, nine or ten inches in breadth, the ascent by stairs is laborious.
2.
Stairs, in the plural, a series of steps by which persons ascend to a higher room in a building. [Stair, in this sense, is not in use.]
Flight of stairs, may signify the stairs which make the whole ascent of a story; or in winding stairs, the phrase may signify the stairs from the floor to a turn, or from one turn to another.

Definition 2024

stair

stair

English

Noun

stair ‎(plural stairs)

  1. A single step in a staircase.
  2. A series of steps, a staircase.
    • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
      Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Usage notes

  • Stairs and stair are used to refer to a single staircase, mostly interchangeably in the UK.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Irish

Etymology

From Latin histōria.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [sˠt̪ˠaɾʲ]

Noun

stair f ‎(genitive singular staire, nominative plural startha)

  1. history

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology

From Middle English staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer ‎(“stair, staircase”), from Proto-Germanic *staigriz ‎(“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- ‎(“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger ‎(“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir ‎(“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger ‎(“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan ‎(“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan ‎(“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege ‎(“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.

Pronunciation

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