below stairs

American

noun

(usually used with a singular verb)

(formerly) the basement rooms usually used by servants, as servants' quarters, kitchen, and laundry room.

below stairs British

adverb

(formerly) at or in the basement of a large house, considered as the place where the servants live and work

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mount Vernon’s newest chapter lies below stairs, in the cellar.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

Even when she was cast in “Gosford Park,” she was disappointed to learn she would be playing Lady Sylvia McCordle; she would have preferred being below stairs.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2024

May explained her vision of “the British dream” by talking about her grandmother, a lady’s maid below stairs, who had three professors and a prime minister among her grandchildren.

From Reuters • Jul. 11, 2018

Whispers below stairs, apparently, are that it would never have happened under the experienced and capable Sir Christopher Geidt.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2018

The time was broken by my errands to the two watchers below stairs, to whom I carried news of her condition.

From By Wit of Woman by Marchmont, Arthur W. (Arthur Williams)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023