noun
- Also called moving staircase, moving stairway. a continuously moving stairway on an endless loop for carrying passengers up or down.
- a means of rising or descending, increasing or decreasing, etc., especially by stages: the social escalator.
- escalator clause.
adjective
- of, relating to, or included in an escalator clause: The union demands escalator protection of wages.
noun
- a moving staircase consisting of stair treads fixed to a conveyor belt, for transporting passengers between levels, esp between the floors of a building
- short for escalator clause
1900, American English, trade name of an Otis Elevator Co. moving staircase, coined from escalade + -ator in elevator. Figurative use is from 1927.