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flight of stairs

flight of stairs

41 1.6
A set of steps between two floors of a building
  • noun
  • /flaɪt əv stɛrz/
translation icon : tramo de escaleras
  • I turn on the hall light and descend the flight of stairs; my feet sink in the carpet.
  • climb a flight of stairs
  • walk up a flight of stairs
  • fall down a flight of stairs

Yeah, that's that's I gotta go up one flight of stairs and I'm like, I'm doing it.

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Examples

  • The poor old guy climbed a flight of stairs like a man reeling from gunshot wounds.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Down the first flight of stairs at the metro, across the landing, another hour, then on to the second flight of stairs.

  • I had come up a flight of stairs into the apartment and let myself in.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • At last, they descended a short flight of stairs and reached a small room below.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The two of them walked down the two flights of stairs to the street.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • A narrow foyer with a flight of stairs led to his suite.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • There was a short, narrow flight of stairs slanting away toward the back of the sanctuary.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • I followed her down the two flights of stairs, rushing past a few surprised-looking servants.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Sam rushes madly down a flight of stairs into a subway station.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The girls went down the second flight of stairs and turned into the kitchen.

Synonyms

staircase
vsflight of stairs
100 1.0

A set of steps inside a building that people use to move between floors

is the simpler term for just the run between floors
flight
vsflight of stairs
72 2.8

A set of steps between one floor and the next

is the longer phrasing that describes the same run more clearly
stairway
vsflight of stairs
54 1.0

A set of steps that people use to go between floors in a building

focuses on the same connection but as a simple set between floors
stairs
vsflight of stairs
4 1.0

A set of steps that people use to go between floors

is the narrower phrase for a single run between two floors
flight of steps
vsflight of stairs
3 3.0

A set of stairs between two floors

uses the everyday phrasing to name the same run between floors
steps
vsflight of stairs
1.0

A set of stairs outside a building

refers specifically to an interior run between floors or landings

How High

staircase
100 1.0
flight of stairs
41 1.6
step
526 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

flight + of + stairs

The meaning is directly composed from the constituents: 'flight' (a series of steps) + 'of' + 'stairs' yields a set of stairs between two landings. This is a regular noun-of-noun compositional pattern (with clear cross-linguistic equivalents), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent senses will understand it.

Etymology

Flight of stairs uses flight in the old sense of a short journey, like a 'flight' of birds, and the stairs make that short route up or down between floors. So, flight of stairs means 'a set of stairs between one floor and the next'.