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escalator

noun
/ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/UK/ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/US

Etymology

From the former trademark Escalator, created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin ē- (“from, out of”) + scala (“ladder”) + -tor, which forms nouns of agency; see the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by its derivative escalate, by surface analysis, escalate + -or. For an alternative etymology, see the Online Etymology Dictionary.

  1. derived from ex- — “from, out of”

Definitions

  1. Anything that escalates.

    • Fourth, communication researchers study the role of stress and negative attitudes as key contributors to conflict, anger as an escalator of conflict, and emotional residues as barriers to reconciliation.

  2. A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that…

    A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.

    • There is a plastic molly-guard covering the escalator's shutdown button to prevent little kids from pushing it and stopping the escalator.

  3. An upward or progressive course.

    • Lots of people fell for the pitch that real estate was an up-only escalator into the American Dream
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. An escalator clause.

      • They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.

    2. To move by escalator.

      • We escalatored to the second floor.

The neighborhood

Derived

downalator, escalator barrel, escalator clause, escalator school, escalefter

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for escalator. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA