stair
pronunciation
How to pronounce stair in British English:
UK [steə(r)]
How to pronounce stair in American English:
US [ster]
-
- Noun:
- support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
Word Origin
- stair
- stair: [OE] A stair is etymologically something you ‘climb’. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *staigrī (source also of Dutch steiger ‘scaffolding’). This was derived from the base *staig-, *stig- ‘rise’, which also produced English stile, stirrup, and sty in the eye. And this in turn went back to an Indo-European *steigh- ‘go, rise’, source also of Greek steíkhein ‘stride, go’ and Irish tiagu ‘go’.=> stile, stirrup, sty
- stair (n.)
- 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.
Example
- 1. Tripping the pensioner on the stair .
- 2. Stair climbing is very similar to running and that makes it difficult to use this exercise for cross-training .
- 3. Sure , you kept your distance and washed your hands frequently , but did you think to wipe down the stair rails and doorknobs ?
- 4. I 've heard positive things about cycling and stair climbing , and that skating is great for training lateral muscles .
- 5. These highlighted elements are used to signify important aspects of the scheme such as the entrance block , stair towers and main hall .