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

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

It becomes yet another way for "Downton Abbey" to explore the central questions of this final season, during which everyone above and below stairs alike is contemplating his or her future prospects in a rapidly changing society.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2016

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

From The Guardian ● May 23, 2013

While Alan Warburton, above stairs, was congratulating himself, believing that he had neglected nothing of prudence or precaution, Van Vernet, below stairs, was grasping a clue by which Alan Warburton might yet be undone.

From Dangerous Ground or, The Rival Detectives by Lawrence L. Lynch

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