up stairs

A form of upstairs — Located on a higher floor or level of a building.

Meanings

adverbup stairs (comparative further up stairs or farther up stairs, superlative furthest up stairs or farthest up stairs)

comparative further up stairs · comparative farther up stairs · superlative furthest up stairs · superlative farthest up stairs

  1. archaicArchaic form of upstairs.

    There was more dancing and singing up stairs, more wit and conversation below; […]

    1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 255
    4 more examples

    I ſtept up ſtairs into my own bed-chamber, with no other thought than of pulling off my hat, &c.

    Fanny Hill

    1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 176

    “He’s in the dining-room, sir, along with mistress. I’ll show you up stairs, if you please.”

    1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 161

    Perhaps ’twas the state in which the poor lady lay up stairs that helped to make them excited and frightened.

    1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How Charles Nutter’s Tea, Pipe, and Tobacco-box Were All Set Out for Him in the Small Parlour at the Mills; and How That Night Was Passed in the House by the Church-yard”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume II, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 137

    JUDY, (within) Well! what do you want, Mr. Punch? PUNCH. Come up stairs: I want you.

    1870, John Payne Collier, The Tragical Comedy of Punch and Judy
Cite this entry
APA

up stairs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20stairs

MLA

“up stairs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20stairs. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “up stairs,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20stairs.

Source: up stairs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.