escalator

[es-kuh-ley-ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR escalator ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Also called moving staircase, moving stairway. a continuously moving stairway on an endless loop for carrying passengers up or down.

a means of rising or descending, increasing or decreasing, etc., especially by stages: the social escalator.

escalator clause.

adjective

of, relating to, or included in an escalator clause: The union demands escalator protection of wages.

Nearby words

Origin of escalator

1895–1900, Americanism; formerly a trademark; perhaps escal(ade) + (elev)ator

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for escalator

So I quickly made way down the escalator to the baggage claim and into the car pickup area.
LAX: Chaotic Scene Greets Arriving Passengers After Shooting Attack|Marlow Stern|November 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
My escort tucked all eight copies under his arm, and we headed back to the escalator.
How I Write: Erik Larson Revisits ‘Isaac’s Storm’|Noah Charney|October 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
So, we rode up an escalator—a very long escalator—and found the book.
How I Write: Erik Larson Revisits ‘Isaac’s Storm’|Noah Charney|October 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Jacobs sent his models, with their beehive hairdos, down the escalator in pairs who were dressed in complimentary styles.
Louis Vuitton, Chanel, McQueen Cap Paris Spring 2013 Fashion Week Shows|Robin Givhan|October 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST

To get to this J.C. Penney, you have to take an escalator down, not up, like you were getting on the subway.
How Chic Is J.C. Penney?|Renata Espinosa|August 19, 2009|DAILY BEAST
When the shooting started, he went charging up the escalator.
Space Viking|Henry Beam Piper
Burdick, Levine: get as many men as you can in thirty seconds, and get up to the head of the escalator!
Null-ABC|Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire
In the escalator each tread is attached rigidly to its riser, and the two together form an independent unit.
The Romance of Modern Mechanism|Archibald Williams
With no break in pace he veered into an opening beside the escalator.
Monkey On His Back|Charles V. De Vet
The elevator as well as the escalator will play a vastly important part in the fabrication of the new Macy's.
The Romance of a Great Store|Edward Hungerford

British Dictionary definitions for escalator

escalator

noun

a moving staircase consisting of stair treads fixed to a conveyor belt, for transporting passengers between levels, esp between the floors of a building

short for escalator clause

Word Origin for escalator

C20: originally a trademark

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

Word Origin and History for escalator

escalator

1900, American English, trade name of an Otis Elevator Co. moving staircase, coined from escalade + -ator in elevator. Figurative use is from 1927.