Phrase guide

below stairs

prep_phrase · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

prep_phrase

Meaning 1

On a floor lower than the one a speaker currently occupies; below the main floor of a multi-floor building.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: downstairs

Antonyms: above stairs, upstairs

2

prep_phrase

Meaning 2

In or pertaining to the lowest levels of a large house where the house staff work and are accommodated, contrasted with above stairs where the owning family reside.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, historical

Examples

  • a. 1631, John Donne, letter to H. Goodere, in Letters to Severall Persons of Honour written by John Donne, London: Richard Marriot, 1651, pp. 158-159, My daughter Constance is at this time with me; or the emptinesse of the town, hath made me, who otherwise live upon the almes of others, a houskeeper, for a moneth; and so she is my servant below stairs, and my companion above:
  • 1972, Robertson Davies, The Manticore, Toronto: New Canadian Library, 2015, Part 2, Chapter 1, Children always lived closer to the servants than their elders, and Caroline and I never knew where we stood with anybody, and sometimes found ourselves hostages in dark, below-stairs intrigues.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

prep_phrase

Meaning 3

Common, vulgar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

prep_phrase

Meaning 4

The areas of a large house in which house staff work, or the staff that work there.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From below + stairs.