*SET-U

Chambers (1908)

Stair

Read this edition’s complete source entry.

Englishe-38700-2967Historical source · not a reviewed *SET-U verdictRead the source ↗

This edition’s origin note

[A.S. stǽager—stígan, to ascend; Ger. steigen, to climb, Ice. stegi, a step.]

Original source wording, not an independently verified *SET-U conclusion.

The complete extracted entry

e-38700-2967

Historical source text, not a reviewed *SET-U analysis. Claims and terminology belong to this edition.

Stair, stār, n. a series of steps for ascending to a higher level: one of such steps: a flight of steps, only in pl.: (Spens.) a degree.—ns. Stair′-car′pet, carpet suitable for stairs; Stair′case, a flight of stairs with balusters, &c.; Stair′-rod, one of a number of metallic rods for holding a stair-carpet in its place.—adv. Down′stairs, in the lower part of a house—opp. to Upstairs.—Back-stairs, adjectively for secret, underhand; Below stairs, in a lower story, in the basement. [A.S. stǽager—stígan, to ascend; Ger. steigen, to climb, Ice. stegi, a step.]

Source locator ebook:38700;section:dictionary;paragraph:2985;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:1374766-1375650

Where interpretation must slow down

  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
  • Historical text may contain offensive, obsolete or inaccurate language and classifications.
  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

This page does not invent a manuscript attestation, a sound-change sequence, a modern scholarly verdict or a complete ancestor tree. Missing detail is a limit of this source record, not necessarily a limit of scholarship.

Find other records with this spelling →

Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

The full extracted entry is rendered as plain text. Formatting and navigation are added by *SET-U; source wording is not silently rewritten as new analysis.

Coverage: the complete A–Z main-entry clusters and dictionary Addenda. Derivative words remain within their original entry clusters. Non-dictionary appendices and standalone illustrations are excluded.

Original entry or artifact ↗Source edition and credits ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source audit fields
Source locator
ebook:38700;section:dictionary;paragraph:2985;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:1374766-1375650
Source record SHA-256
82124cab2be0ba653a785baa08b4e27e019b8a93f7b023d8da9a971dc7ef5c0d
Records SHA-256
fe553f4cc08e11f2f222d5bd4706ae9585f8951c8374a3edc0fcc03264dbbea9
Published snapshot
00f489ccce5cccc78b796c10de36f4f0d18709073434ccf9285eb201d4ac39ca
Acquired
2026-11-05T09:16:04.758Z · acquisition date, not first attestation
Parser
chambers-1908-1
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,407,997 bytes555d2991c0d7cc611a61c79935db172efe6bb5becb074253788d90dafd0b6b08
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,773,892 bytes912196a924c239e3ccc550bbb1f8515ce77bbd271ebf777b27fc468174ac32f8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 2,804,092 bytes4a647fbb3ce598efbe36554cdc02b070b3f5edf5ba2e41fcd36328f18a26c4e8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 4,392,053 bytes222c6725b7618cc03250863a64cce04c859c3378caa03b347376611c0668b33d
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac