below stairs

American  

noun

(usually used with a singular verb)

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

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below stairs British  

adverb

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

below stairs

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

That decade below stairs has given Isaac a clear-eyed cynicism about the shopfront.

From The Guardian ● May 23, 2013

As good hap is, he's below stairs, talking with a seaman, that has brought him news from the East Indies.

From Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18) Sir Martin Mar-All; The Tempest; An Evening's Love; Tyrannic Love by Dryden, John