noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a stair carpet
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We need a new stair carpet.
steep stairs
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Martha led the way up the very steep stairs.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
back
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She put on her robe, lit the candle and went on tip-toe down the back stairs and into the kitchen.
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I was shown up a narrow back stair to a small white room with a very hard bed in one corner.
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Unfortunately it was the door that led to the back stairs .
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I set my mug aside, unplugged the coffeepot, locked the office, and trotted down the back stairs .
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At the top of the back stairs I made them wait.
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You came up the back stairs ?
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Shaking the snow off their hair and coats, the girls skitter up the back stairs into the factory.
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With this intention firmly planted in her mind, she headed for the back stairs leading down into the kitchens.
bottom
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I glimpsed Auntie sitting on the bottom stair as I flew past above her head.
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Liz stepped over the bottom stair , which always creaked.
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She stepped off the bottom stair on to a carpeted floor.
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I forgot I'd got them on and I slipped on the bottom stairs .
dark
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He climbed the dark , tortuous stairs heavily.
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The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
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My room is on top of a cloth-shop and I have to climb up a flight of dark stairs to get to it.
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Catherine said the music sounded sweeter from high up, and so she went to sit in the dark on the stairs .
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From the corner of his eye he sensed a movement in the dark beneath the stairs .
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They went through secret doors in the floors, then along passages and down dark stairs .
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The door opened six inches and she saw a sliver of dark landing, stairs coiling away to the street.
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There might well be a knife on a dark stair for me!
narrow
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He crossed the landing and mounted the narrow stairs to the attics.
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The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
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The narrow wooden stairs echoed as they ran up.
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The passages and narrow stairs made the effort very difficult, necessitating a change in the arrangements.
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As Grant hurried down the narrow concrete stairs , he felt the first warning stab of pain in his torn thigh muscle.
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We were ushered on to the coach and up narrow , winding stairs to our seats.
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Her heart was hammering as she went up the narrow , cheerless stairs she'd last climbed before her interview.
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I followed Polly up the narrow flight of stairs to the second floor.
steep
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I run between the concrete pillars holding up the elevated railway, on to the steep stairs .
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Bob balks at the steep stairs .
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I walk down the steep flight of stairs .
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The procession reached the foot of the long steep flight of stairs leading up to the temple.
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A church that stood upon a grassy hill and to which you mounted by a flight of steep stone stairs .
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Dismissed properly, they sprang into motion and took the steep stairs in a single leap.
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Size, the presence of steep stairs , dampness, and difficulty to heat, may mean that property is inappropriate.
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I had to drag Tom's pram up eighteen steep stairs .
wooden
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The narrow wooden stairs echoed as they ran up.
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Hughes went up the wooden stairs first.
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The wooden stairs along the north wall lead directly upwards to location 53. 32.
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Instead, a steep, wooden flight of stairs led down into the ground beneath me.
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The lodge contained a large hall below and a banqueting room above, connected by a grand wooden stair .
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Hughes walked up a short set of wooden stairs .
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Quickly, he ducked through the unadorned side door of the building and began climbing the four flights of rickety wooden stairs .
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From Boots, £3.65 for two. 5 Wooden stairs should have anti-slip strips.
■ NOUN
stone
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Holmes brushed aside an offer to wait, and we descended a set of echoing stone stairs .
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Heart thudding uncomfortably in my chest, I ran up the unlit stone stairs of the tenement.
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There is a fine oak carved overmantel and an old door opens on to the curved stone stair to the first floor.
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A stone stair against one wall led to the upper room.
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Quick footsteps on a stone stair startled me awake.
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I mounted the wide stone stairs of this block with Coleridge back in my mind.
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They proceeded up the stone stairs to the third floor.
■ VERB
begin
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Ralph his son and now his wife all began to climb the stairs to bed.
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She smiled, and then began to climb the stairs to the ground level and the shapechanger.
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Once under drugs, granny rose from her ground-floor death bed and with uncontrollable strength began to mount the stairs .
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Slowly, she began to climb the stairs again, resolved to return and put her case.
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He forced himself to bow politely, and then turned away and began to descend the stairs .
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Without a word, the woman began to ascend the stairs .
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Rain and Oliver began down the stairs .
climb
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Would it be best to accept another cup of tea before trying to climb the stairs ?
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She climbed the stairs until she stood before me, I not daring to look up, staring at my black Keds.
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I watched Ilsa climb the stairs in the golden haze of the summer evening.
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She climbed stairs and peered through wide windows at the canyon and the forested land that stretched away to south and west.
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Even as we were climbing the stairs , we heard the hubbub.
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But some one was climbing the stairs .
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Stepping lightly, easy-footed, they had climbed the white stairs , leaving her down below.
come
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She heard the sound of voices coming up the stairs .
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I'd have seen it if I'd been coming down the stairs instead of in the lift.
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Marge was coming down the stairs , barefoot.
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If so, why did she scream and come running down the stairs like that?
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We could hear them coming up the stairs right to our door and then shouting and hammering on it.
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Then Mrs Washington came down the stairs , like a life-sized Winnie the Pooh.
creep
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Jenna crept down the stairs , pulling her dressing-gown closely round her, stumbling across the room to the door.
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I gave him another five, then crept up the stairs and peered into his room.
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At five o'clock she returned to the theatre and crept up the stairs to the dressing-room.
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I crept down the stairs , following the sound of voices.
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I pulled on a sweater and trousers and crept down the stairs in bare feet.
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I put my clothes on, and crept down the stairs .
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But it wasn't duty that took her from her bed creeping down the stairs .
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So she beckoned to Baptiste and he crept up the stairs after her, his shoes in his hand.
descend
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I have a vivid memory of her descending the stairs to the conservatory where we said our vows.
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What do I do there in my rooms before I descend the stairs , return through the door, and wake?
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And she descended the stairs and, tapping lightly on the door, turned the handle and went in.
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The little orchestra was playing a minuet when she began to descend the sumptuously draped stairs .
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Slowly I descended the stairs and went out into the courtyard.
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As she descended the stairs , she appreciated for the first time how far she had fallen from grace.
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Instead, they get the splendor of descending the stairs to their official welcome.
fall
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She could not bring herself to fall down the house stairs .
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And he would have been had he not fallen down the stairs .
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She tried to follow and almost fell down the stairs , gritting her teeth to prevent herself passing out.
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It was an accident - she fell down the stairs , they say.
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Lucy was appalled by the thought of her aunt falling down the stairs and now lying in pain.
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Eating out A retired solicitor hit his head when he fell down some stairs in a restaurant.
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I think he fell down the stairs , and he screamed for two or three minutes.
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I fell up the stairs running in my socks to clear it up.
follow
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Two men had followed him up the stairs .
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I said, and followed her up the stairs .
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She squeezed Julie's hand and motioned for her to follow down the stairs that led to the ground floor.
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He followed Lily up the stairs to their bedroom.
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He gestured with a long, withered arm for her to follow him up the stairs .
go
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At seven o'clock that night, William Darling went up the long stairs of the lighthouse to light the big oil lantern.
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All the same, it might be interesting ... As she went up the narrow stairs , Jennifer's heart was beating.
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I went up the stairs slowly, and paused at the window on the landing and looked down the street.
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She dressed while they waited, then they went down the greasy stairs into the street.
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The stairway went up ten stairs to a landing with a large window, then up another ten to the first floor.
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He had sworn that he would not stop to rest going down the stairs .
head
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I slipped out of bed, got into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and headed down the stairs .
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But Eugene was already headed up the stairs .
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I headed down the stairs into the silence of the early evening.
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I slipped my shoes on and left my handbag by the door, heading for the stairs .
hear
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And then, as I came out from under the stairs , I heard something moving upstairs.
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Even as we were climbing the stairs , we heard the hubbub.
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He was staring into the black well of the stairs when he heard the noises.
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She listened at the top of the stairs until she heard Trotter go into the downstairs bathroom.
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Unfortunately, as she descended the stairs , she heard raised voices from the study.
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As he went down the stairs he heard a voice and paused outside the room it issued from.
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And up the stairs I could hear him coming.
hurry
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Without hesitation, the sergeant swung round and hurried down the stairs as lightly as his own considerable bulk would allow.
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John caught Sarah's arm and hustled her into the sitting room while Emily hurried down the stairs to join them.
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Then she hurried down the eighty stairs to the clinic.
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Being hurried down stairs , trying to feel for the edge of the steps, unable to see, was very unnerving.
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Coming to a decision, she turned and hurried down the stairs .
lead
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There was no lino covering on the stairs leading to the second floor.
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It took Miguel a while before he found the stairs leading down to the basement.
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They were standing in a narrow hall, with a bicycle propped against one wall and stairs leading down to a basement.
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The procession reached the foot of the long steep flight of stairs leading up to the temple.
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Pausing a moment to work out the best route, the Doctor set off to find a stair leading down.
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Instead, a steep, wooden flight of stairs led down into the ground beneath me.
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Then he violently shoved her down the small flight of stairs that led off their bedroom to the bathroom.
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To his left a shallow flight of oak stairs led to a narrow gallery from which led a number of doors.
mount
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He crossed the landing and mounted the narrow stairs to the attics.
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In the end I gave in and reluctantly mounted the narrow stairs .
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Once under drugs, granny rose from her ground-floor death bed and with uncontrollable strength began to mount the stairs .
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In a lull, she drifted up to see to the babies, but misjudged mounting the stair .
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He began to mount the uncarpeted stairs .
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He sighed deeply then mounted the stairs and looked around him slowly.
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As Big Ben struck two little Alistair mounted the stairs .
open
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She grabbed her black crocheted shawl and velvet evening bag, and hurried down the stairs to open the door.
run
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Léonie ran up the stairs to the grenier and reappeared holding a basket of plums.
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Then the boy ran up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door.
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She ran up the stairs to go to the toilet to be sick but collapsed on the landing.
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I grabbed the door handle, pulled the door open against the force of the wind, and ran up the stairs .
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She ran up the stairs into her room.
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She ran down the stairs and opened the glass door, and Catriona followed.
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She heard him running lightly down the stairs , and breathed a long sigh of relief.
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He was running down the stairs .
sit
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Feeling that she could not move her left arm or leg, she sat down on the stairs .
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Toos and Alvin Sharpes arrived and sat on the stairs to listen to the story and stare at the storyteller.
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I sat on the stairs near the drawing-room, listening.
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We sat on the front stairs of our house.
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I sighed and sat down on the stairs .
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I went out in the hall and sat on the top stair and looked down the stairwell.
stand
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She climbed the stairs until she stood before me, I not daring to look up, staring at my black Keds.
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Recalling this, I quietly tread the stairs and stand in the dark hall outside his door.
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He was at the foot of the stairs , standing for a moment on his own, no-one around.
start
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Side by side, they started down the stairs .
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By the time I got through the back door and started climbing the stairs , however, all was quiet again.
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They started down the stairs , stumbling against one another in their mirth.
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The feet, which had started down the stairs , came back.
turn
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Now I have stairs which actually turn the corner into a splendid hall.
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The propylon from the theater leads into a dark narrow stair which turns down towards the light and into the main court.
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The stairs then retract, turning the stairway into a sheer slope and dumping the adventurers down to the bottom.
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Standing at the bottom of the stairs , turning up the gas, revealing her in a pool of light.
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At the same moment, at the top of the stairs , Doyle turned off the music.
walk
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All they need to do is walk down the stairs and it'd be the right time.
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They improved walking speed, stair climbing, balance and spontaneous daily activity.
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I might have known Lisabeth wouldn't have walked up the stairs herself to leave the note.
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He turned off the light, walked quietly to the stairs , and started up.
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After the meal she escaped as soon as she could and found herself walking up the stairs with Mitch.
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Quincy is walking down the stairs looking shiny and brand-new.
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I walked up the stairs and over to the door.
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He closed the door to the belfry; and walked to the stairs .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I heard footsteps coming up the stair .
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The second stair creaks when you step on it.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As I climbed the stairs I wondered if I could handle the present situation calmly and tactfully even a bit subserviently.
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Every flush meant carrying a bucket of water up three flights of stairs.
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Friends will call, thundering up and down the stairs.
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Her head pounding, she took the stairs to the second floor two at a time.
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I can hear him on the stairs.
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The original idea was that the library would be symmetrical with the entrance and stairs in the centre.
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They carried her up and down the stairs, sang her songs.
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Would it be best to accept another cup of tea before trying to climb the stairs?