the.com/staircase
a machine for defying gravity one polite step at a time
means A set of stairs, usually with its supporting framework and railings, built to connect one level of a building to another.
from A plain compound of "stair" + "case." "Stair" comes from Old English "stǣger," tied to a verb meaning to climb or mount (a cousin of "stile" and German "steigen," to ascend). "Case" here is the older sense of an enclosing frame or structure — the same "case" that boxes a window or a clock — from Latin "capsa," a box, via Old French. So a staircase is literally the climbing-thing housed in its frame.
- effect
- Spiral stairs were built to make invaders fight uphill
- wit
- Esprit d'escalier means the comeback you think of too late
- record
- Niesen Railway has 11,674 steps, world's longest staircase
- design
- Step height varies barely an inch to prevent stumbles
- danger
- Stairs injure over a million Americans yearly
the spanish steps — 138 steps in rome connecting piazza di spagna to trinità dei monti, built 1723-1725
the grand staircase titanic — iconic staircase on rms titanic that sank in 1912, featured in 1997 film
the spiral staircase vatican — double helix staircase in vatican museums designed by donato bramante around 1505