Definition

1. Noun:
   • A moving staircase: An escalator is a power-driven, continuous moving stairway used for transporting people between different floors or levels of a building. It consists of a circulating belt of steps that move upward or downward on tracks.
   • An adjustable clause in a contract: An escalator is a provision or clause in a contract, such as a wage agreement or lease, that allows for automatic increases or decreases in payments (like wages, prices, or rents) based on specific, predefined conditions, such as changes in the cost-of-living index.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Moving Staircase):
  • We took the escalator to the third floor of the department store.
  • The shopping mall has a long, curved escalator in its central atrium.
• Noun (Contract Clause):
  • The union negotiated an escalator in the contract to protect workers from inflation.
  • The rent includes an escalator clause tied to the annual consumer price index.

Advanced Usage

• "Escalator clause": This is the full term for the contractual provision. It is often used in legal and financial contexts.
  • The lease agreement contained an escalator clause for property taxes.
• Figurative Use: The word can be used metaphorically to describe any self-perpetuating process that leads to a continuous increase.
  • The arms race became an escalator of military spending.

Variants and Related Words

• Escalate (verb): To increase rapidly or to become more intense.
  • The conflict began to escalate.
• Escalation (noun): A rapid increase or intensification.
  • There was a dangerous escalation of hostilities.

Synonyms

• Moving staircase/stairway: For the mechanical device.
• Adjustment clause, sliding scale clause: For the contractual provision.

Related Phrases

• Escalator effect: A situation where one action or event triggers a series of increases.
  • The tax cut had an escalator effect on consumer spending.
• Up the escalator/down the escalator: Phrases describing direction of travel on the device.
  • He was running up the down escalator.

Related Idioms

• "An escalator to success": A metaphorical idiom describing a fast or effortless path to achieving success.
  • He saw the new management program as an escalator to success.

Noun

1. a stairway whose steps move continuously on a circulating belt
2. a clause in a contract that provides for an increase or a decrease in wages or prices or benefits etc. depending on certain conditions (as a change in the cost of living index)