downstairs

Formsfurther downstairs, farther downstairs, furthest downstairs, farthest downstairs

Formsfurther downstairs, farther downstairs, furthest downstairs, farthest downstairs

Pluraldownstairs

1. 1
   adverb

   To or toward a lower floor, by way of the stairs.

   Hearing the crash, she hurried downstairs to check on the noise.

   The movers carried the heavy couch downstairs without scratching the walls.

   Similardown, below

   Oppositeupstairs

   Note

   Motion and place share one form here. You walk downstairs to leave, but a lodger simply lives downstairs, with no stairs climbed at all. Verbs of movement give the 'down the stairs' reading, and verbs of being give 'on the floor below'. Either way it attaches to the verb directly, so no preposition is needed: go downstairs, not go to downstairs.

2. 2
   adjective

   Situated on the lower floor of a building.

   The downstairs windows were left open during the storm.

   Guests usually wait in the downstairs sitting room.

   Similarground-floor, lower

   Oppositeupstairs, upper

   Note

   Mostly it sits before a noun: the downstairs bedroom, set against the upstairs one. The word is built from down-, stair and -s, so the final -s is part of the word, not a plural ending, and it stays even before a singular noun. When the adjective is compared, English reaches for further or farther rather than adding -er.

3. 3
   noun

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

   The downstairs of the cottage stayed cool even in summer.

   A burst pipe ruined the entire downstairs overnight.

   Oppositeupstairs

   Note

   Often it stands with no article at all: downstairs was spacious, but upstairs really cramped. In that use it behaves almost like a place name, paired with upstairs. With an article it becomes an ordinary noun, as in the downstairs of the cottage. Its plural is spelled the same, downstairs.

4. 4
   noun

   The servants' quarters of a household, especially in a large house in earlier times.

   Below the elegant drawing rooms, the downstairs bustled with cooks and footmen.

   Gossip traveled quickly through the downstairs of the great estate.

   Oppositeupstairs

   Note

   Here the floor stands for the people who work on it. Gossip from downstairs is gossip from the staff, not from the rooms. The meaning grows out of the lower floor of a house. It maps a household's social order onto its architecture, with the servants below and the family set apart from them.

5. 5
   nounslangeuphemistic

   A coy or jocular slang word for the genitals.

   The cyclist groaned, clutching his downstairs after the saddle slipped.

   The nurse asked, a little awkwardly, about any pain in her downstairs.

   Similarprivates, crotch

   Note

   As a noun, the euphemism usually takes a possessive, as in her downstairs or his downstairs. It treats the body like a house with a lower floor. It shares the coy register of the adverb 'down there', and the same caution applies: it is fine among friends or in comedy, but out of place where a precise or respectful word is wanted.

6. 6
   adverbslangeuphemistic

   In or concerning the region of the genitals.

   The tackle caught him downstairs, and he crumpled instantly.

   He admitted, blushing, that he'd been sore downstairs since the long ride.

   Note

   The adverb is a polite dodge. It lets a speaker place pain or trouble in the genitals without naming them, as in something wrong downstairs. It belongs to slang and euphemism, so it suits jokes and embarrassed conversation. In medical or formal writing the anatomical word is clearer. The same coyness drives the noun for the genitals.

7. 7
   adverbfiguratively

   In or to hell, imagined as lying below.

   He muttered that the swindler had finally gone downstairs where he belonged.

   In the old play, the devil drags the miser downstairs amid smoke and flame.

   Oppositeupstairs

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