| 释义 |
downstairs, advb. phr. (a., n.)
(see below)
Less freq. downstair (esp. as adj.).
a. adv. phr. |daʊnˈstɛəz|. Down the stairs; on or to a lower floor or (fig.) ‘the lower regions’.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 112 His industry is vp⁓staires and down-staires, his eloquence the parcell of a reckoning. 1597― 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 202 Thrust him downe stayres. a1631Drayton Wks. II. 490 (Jod.) When upstair one, downstair another, hies. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest x, As she went downstairs. a1845Barham Ingol. Leg., Bros. Birchington xxiii, Such affairs..are bruited about..‘down-stairs’ Where Old Nick [etc.]. 1883Reade Many a Slip in Harper's Mag. Dec. 133/2 Down⁓stairs the lady did not charm.
b. attrib. or adj. |ˈdaʊnstɛə(z)|.
1819Metropolis I. 146 At the feet of down stairs Cinderella. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 222, I have sometimes..feared that her down-stair life was less happy. Mod. The downstairs rooms.
c. n. |daʊnˈstɛəz|. The downstairs part of a building; the lower regions.
1843Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 254 The old green curtains of downstairs were become filthy. 1877H. Smart Play or Pay (1878) 125 The accredited down stairs is so utterly overstocked with that pavement [good intentions]. 1896Westm. Gaz. 23 Apr. 2/3 The magistrate could not discriminate whether upstairs or down-stairs began [the fight]. |