escalator

noun

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 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.”

   “It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly tube, opened on October 4, 1911, which really began the successful career of the escalator in this country. At first the public mistrusted it, and a wooden-legged man called "Bumper" Harris was engaged to travel up and down all day to give passengers confidence. Today there are 181 escalators at 57 London Transport stations.”

   “I found the Tube trains morbidly fascinating, I had a simpler enthusiasm for the escalators. Everyone likes going on escalators as far as I know. It feels like a free ride, and the longer they are, the better. The only escalator in York was at Marks & Spencer's, and people would hesitate for ages before getting on, apparently waiting for the right stair to come rolling along, whereas Londoners would step on while reading a newspaper.”

   “Episode Guide: [...] Episode 1 (July 13): Exploration of both ends of the abandoned branch between Holborn and Aldwych, including an interview with the driver of the last train. And a trip to Holloway Road to find out about the Tube's only spiral escalator. [This escalator never entered service]”

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. An escalator clause.

   “They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.”

verb

1. (informal, intransitive)To move by escalator.

   “We escalatored to the second floor.”