Word.ws English Dictionary

backstairs

backstairs noun: a staircase at the rear of a building or one normally only used by servants and tradesmen.

Noun

backstairs pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) A staircase at the rear of a building or one normally only used by servants and tradesmen.
    • Here I diſcovered the ſecret Cauſes of many great Events that have ſurprized the World, how a Whore can govern the Back-ſtairs, the Back-ſtairs a Council, and the Council a Senate.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte...
    • Other feet were already in the lower flight of the backstairs; but the upper flight was the one for me, and in an instant we were racing along the upper corridor […]1905, Ernest William Hornung, “The Spoils of Sacrilege” in A Thief in the Night
  2. (plural, plural-only) An indirect or furtive means of access or intercourse.
    • The straight-forward course, they say, would be to proclaim outright, instead of trying to bring it in by the backstairs.1934 March 27, “De Valera Move Hits Dignity Of Governor-General”, in Christian Science Monitor

Adjective

backstairs (comparative more backstairs, superlative most backstairs)

  1. Secret or furtive.
    • […] if some peers (I am very sorry they are not as many as they ought to be) set themselves, in the great concern of peers and commons, against a back-stairs influence and clandestine government, then the alarm begins; then the constitution is in danger of being forced into an aristocracy.1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
    • The danger of the situation was increased by the mischievous conduct of Alderman Townshend, who had been brought down to the House, pale and bandaged from a recent surgical operation, in order to pour forth a diatribe against female caprice and backstairs influence; […]1880, George Otto Trevelyan, chapter 8, in The Early History of Charles James Fox, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1881, page 364
  2. Scandalous.

backstairs meaning in Tamil

backstairs in Tamil

பின்புறப் படிக்கட்டு, பணியாளர்கள் படிக்கட்டு, மறைமுகமானஇ திருட்டுத்தனமான, நேர்மையற்ற

Synonyms of backstairs

Forms of backstairs

Noun
alternative formback-stairs
Adjective
comparativemore backstairs
superlativemost backstairs

Origin of backstairs

From back + stairs.

Questions about backstairs

What does backstairs mean?
Backstairs means a staircase at the rear of a building or one normally only used by servants and tradesmen.
What is backstairs in Tamil?
Backstairs in Tamil is பின்புறப் படிக்கட்டு, பணியாளர்கள் படிக்கட்டு, மறைமுகமானஇ திருட்டுத்தனமான. See Backstairs meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is backstairs?
Backstairs can be a noun or an adjective.

Words near backstairs in the dictionary

  1. backstage Johnny
  2. backstager
  3. backstagers
  4. backstages
  5. backstair
  6. backstairs
  7. backstall
  8. backstalled
  9. backstalling
  10. backstalls
  11. backstamp

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backstairs (page history and authors); backstairs (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-backstairs.wav.

Cite this entry: “backstairs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backstairs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.