downstairs

From down- +‎ stair +‎ -s.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛɹz/

  • Audio (US):

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛəz/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteːz/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstiəz/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteəz/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteɹz/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɜː(ɹ)z/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)z
• Hyphenation: down‧stairs

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Located on a lower floor.

   The kids sleep in the downstairs bedroom; we sleep in the upstairs one.

• upstairs-downstairs

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Down the stairs.

   I have to walk downstairs to leave the building.

   The lodger lives downstairs.

2. (figurative) In or to hell.
3. (slang, euphemistic) Regarding the genitalia.

   something wrong downstairs

downstairs (plural downstairs)

1. The lower floor of a house, at ground level, or sometimes below.

   We looked over the house; downstairs was spacious, but upstairs really cramped.

   1. In particular, especially historically, the servants’ quarters.

      The family tried to ignore gossip from downstairs.

      • 1978, Tom Reamy, Blind Voices:

        Now the two of them rattled around in the old house, even with his office and small clinic sharing the downstairs with the kitchen, parlor, and dining room.

2. (slang, euphemistic) The genitalia.

   The wind lifted up her skirt and I caught a glimpse of her downstairs.

• upstairs

• “downstairs, adv., adj., and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022.