DictionaryAI

floor

FLOR/flɔɹ/FLAW/flɔː/

Pluralfloors

23 meanings of floor

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  1. 1
    inside walking surfacenouncountable
    The flat lower surface of a room, building, or other structure such as a bridge, that people stand, walk, or drive on; also the structure that forms it.

    He swept the workshop floor at the end of every shift.

    The old wooden floors creaked under each step.

    UsageThings lie or sit on the floor; a hole or crack is in the floor.

    Note

    The household sense the rest are built on: Old English flōr, from a Germanic word for a flat surface and ultimately a root meaning "flat." Flatness, not lowness, is the old idea, which helps explain how the word reached a forest's ground or the ocean floor. Indoors it is usually described by its material or its covering: a wooden floor, or the Axminster carpet over one in Belloc Lowndes's The Lodger (1913).

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Floor descends from Old English flōr through Germanic ancestry, ultimately from a root meaning flat. en.wiktionary.org
    • The ultimate root expresses flatness rather than lowness. en.wiktionary.org
    • Belloc Lowndes wrote The Lodger, whose novel version first appeared in 1913. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Lodger describes an Axminster carpet covering a floor. en.wikisource.org
  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A single level or story of a building.

    Like one tier of a layered cake stacked on the others.

    The marketing team occupies the entire fifth floor.

    Fire safety rules require a marked exit on every floor.

    UsageYou live or work on a floor: on the third floor (not incorrect: in the third floor).

    Similarstory, storey, level

    Note

    They can also be named for what they hold. In Margery Allingham's The China Governess (1962), characters hurry up the staircase to the bedroom floor.

  3. 3
    nouncountable
    The bottom surface of a natural or dug-out space, such as a cave, forest, sea, valley, pit, or mine.

    Divers explored the ocean floor far below the surface.

    Fallen leaves blanketed the forest floor by late autumn.

    UsageUsually with the place in front: the forest floor, the ocean floor, the cave floor.

  4. 4
    noundialectalUK
    The ground; the surface underfoot, whether inside or out.

    Watch your step out here, because the floor by the gate is covered in ice.

    His glove fell on the floor as he crossed the yard.

    UsageFor the ground outdoors, the ground is the usual word; the floor outside sounds relaxed and local.

    Similarground

    Note

    British dialect and casual speech let the word step outside. A wallet dropped while stepping off a bus falls on the floor, with no room anywhere in sight.

  5. 5
    noun
    The main area of a business or venue where the work or activity happens, such as a restaurant's dining area, a stock exchange's trading area, a casino's gaming area, or a factory or shop floor.

    New servers spend their first week learning the floor before taking tables.

    The manager kept an eye on the floor to make sure every table was happy.

    UsageOften in work the floor, on the floor, or a compound naming the place: shop floor, trading floor.

    Note

    In a restaurant this is the dining area, the space servers work, and leaving it can mean refusing to serve. The Proceedings and Debates of the Congress for 1947 record waitresses who "walked off the floor" rather than serve four Black delegates, and that walkout started a conference session in the coffee shop.

  6. 6
    debating chambernouncountable
    The part of a legislative chamber assigned to its members, distinct from the public viewing gallery.

    Several lawmakers crossed the floor to vote with the opposition.

    Tempers flared on the floor of the assembly during the late-night session.

    UsageOften on the floor of a house or senate; to cross the floor is to vote with or join the other side.

  7. 7
    dancing spacenouncountable
    The area set aside for dancing at a club, party, or event.

    The DJ kept the floor full until two in the morning with one hit after another.

    By midnight the floor was packed with dancers.

    UsageAt a club or party, the floor alone is the dance floor: get on the floor, pack the floor.

    Note

    Pop songs have made the short form almost a refrain. Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky's "Maniac" (1983) pictures a frenzied dancer out on the floor. Was (Not Was) called everyone onto it in "Walk the Dinosaur" (1987), and Ed Sheeran's "Azizam" (2025) still asks to be met there.

  8. 8
    lower limitnouncountable
    A lower limit or minimum set on a price or rate; the opposite of a cap or ceiling.

    Like a net under a tightrope walker: the price can't fall past it.

    Regulators introduced a price floor to keep small producers in business.

    The contract guarantees a floor beneath which the interest rate cannot fall.

    UsageOften price floor, or a floor on a price or rate: set a floor on milk prices.

    Similarminimum

    Oppositeceiling, cap

    Note

    Finance borrows the picture of a room. A floor is the level a price or rate cannot drop below, and its partner overhead is the cap or ceiling. Because each sets a limit from a different side, a floor and a ceiling together can hold a rate inside a band.

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Origin

Inherited from Middle English "flor," from Old English "flōr" (floor, pavement, ground, bottom), from Proto-Germanic "*flōraz" (flat surface, floor, plain), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root "*pleh₂-" meaning "flat." It is related to Dutch "vloer," German "Flur," Welsh "llawr," and Latin "plānus" (level, flat).

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 10 facts