English Dictionary |
BACKSTAIRS
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Dictionary entry overview: What does backstairs mean?
• BACKSTAIRS (noun)
The noun BACKSTAIRS has 1 sense:
1. a second staircase at the rear of a building
Familiarity information: BACKSTAIRS used as a noun is very rare.
• BACKSTAIRS (adjective)
The adjective BACKSTAIRS has 1 sense:
Familiarity information: BACKSTAIRS used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A second staircase at the rear of a building
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("backstairs" is a kind of...):
staircase; stairway (a way of access (upward and downward) consisting of a set of steps)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Secret and sly or sordid
Synonyms:
backstair; backstairs; furtive
Context example:
furtive behavior
Similar:
covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)
Context examples
Now, Jane, trip on before us away to the backstairs; unbolt the side-passage door, and tell the driver of the post-chaise you will see in the yard—or just outside, for I told him not to drive his rattling wheels over the pavement—to be ready; we are coming: and, Jane, if any one is about, come to the foot of the stairs and hem.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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