floor
Mehri's apartment is on the sixth floor.
A level of a building
Mehri's apartment is on the sixth floor.
Oxford Essential Dictionary
floor
noun
1 the part of a room that you walk on:
There weren't any chairs so we sat on the floor.
2 all the rooms at the same height in a building:
I live on the top floor.
Our hotel room was on the sixth floor.
which word?
The part of a building that is on the same level as the street is called the ground floor in British English and the first floor in American English.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
floor
I. noun
I. floor1 S1 W1 /flɔː $ flɔːr/ noun [countable]
[Language: Old English; Origin: flor]
1. IN A BUILDING the flat surface that you stand on inside a building:
• a polished wooden floor
• a puddle of water on the kitchen floor
• a warehouse that has 410,000 square feet of floor space
2. IN A CAR British English the part of a car that forms its inside floor SYN floorboard American English
3. LEVEL IN BUILDING one of the levels in a building:
• a ground floor flat
on the top/first/tenth etc floor
• Our office is on the top floor.
floor of
• We are located on the seventh floor of the building.
4. OCEAN/FOREST/CAVE FLOOR ETC the ground at the bottom of the ocean, the forest etc:
• creatures that live on the ocean floor
5. FOR DANCING an area in a room where people can dance:
• There were two or three couples already on the dance floor.
take (to) the floor (=begin dancing)
• Everyone took to the floor for the last waltz.
6. WHERE PEOPLE WORK a large area in a building where a lot of people do their jobs:
• He wasn’t keen on the idea of working on the shop floor (=the part of a factory where people make things using machines).
• the busy trading floor (=area where STOCKS and SHARES are bought and sold)
7. LIMIT an officially agreed limit below which something cannot go ⇨ ceiling:
• Manufacturers have tried to put a floor under the price of their products.
8. the floor
a) the people attending a public meeting:
• Are there any questions from the floor?
b) the part of a parliament, public meeting place etc where people sit:
• The delegates crowded the floor of the House.
9. take the floor to begin speaking at an important public meeting:
• The chairman then took the floor.
10. have the floor to be speaking or have the right to speak at an important public meeting:
• He stepped aside to allow other speakers to have the floor.
11. go through the floor if a price, amount etc goes through the floor, it becomes very low OPP go through the roof:
• Share prices have gone through the floor.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS■ verbs
▪ clean the floor • Next he had to clean the floor.
▪ wash/mop the floor • The floor needs mopping.
▪ sweep the floor • He grabbed a broom and began sweeping the floor.
▪ wax/polish the floor • I washed and waxed the kitchen floor.
▪ sit/lie/sleep on the floor • Officers found her lying face down on the floor.
▪ fall/drop/sink to the floor • He let his cigarette fall to the floor.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + floor
▪ the bathroom/kitchen/bedroom etc floor • I’ve still got to clean the bathroom floor.
▪ a wooden floor • The hut had a muddy wooden floor.
▪ a marble floor • He strode across the marble floor.
▪ a tiled floor • There were a couple of oriental rugs on the tiled floor.
▪ a carpeted floor • Barbara was sitting on the carpeted floor.
▪ a bare floor (=not covered by anything) • Father Murphy led me to a tiny room with a bare floor and a simple bed.
■ floor + NOUN
▪ floor tiles (=flat square pieces of clay or other material, used to cover floors) • When you buy floor tiles, always get a few extra.
▪ floor polish • The room smelt of floor polish.
▪ a floor covering (=a material, such as carpet, that covers a floor) • A carpet fitter can fit floor coverings quickly and inexpensively.
▪ floor space (=a measure of how big a room or building is, based on the size of the floor) • The shop has 33,000 square feet of floor space.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ floor one of the levels in a building: • She lives in an apartment on the eighteenth floor.
▪ storey British English, story American English used when saying how many levels a building has: • a five-storey car park | • The school is a single storey building.
▪ the ground floor (also the first floor American English) the floor of a building that is at ground level: • There is a shop on the ground floor. | • The emergency room is on the first floor.
▪ the first floor British English, the second floor American English the floor of a building above the one at ground level: • She lives on the first floor.
▪ deck one of the levels on a ship, bus, or plane: • The Horizon Lounge is on the top deck of the ship.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
floor
floor [floor floors floored flooring] noun, verb [flɔː(r)] [flɔːr]
noun
OF ROOM
1. countable, usually singular the surface of a room that you walk on
• a wooden/concrete/marble, etc. floor
• ceramic floor tiles
• The body was lying on the kitchen floor.
• The furniture and floor coverings date from the 1920s.
• The alterations should give us extra floor space.
OF VEHICLE
2. (NAmE also floor·board) countable, usually singular the bottom surface of a vehicle
• The floor of the car was covered in cigarette ends.
LEVEL OF BUILDING
3. countable all the rooms that are on the same level of a building
• Her office is on the second floor.
• the Irish guy who lives two floors above
• There is a lift to all floors.
• Their house is on three floors (= it has three floors).
see also ground floor
OF THE SEA/FORESTS
4. countable, usually singular the ground at the bottom of the sea, a forest, etc
• the ocean/valley/cave/forest floor
IN PARLIAMENT, ETC.
5. the floor singular the part of a building where discussions or debates are held, especially in a parliament; the people who attend a discussion or debate
• Opposition politicians registered their protest on the floor of the House.
• We will now take any questions from the floor.
AREA FOR WORK
6. countable, usually singular an area in a building that is used for a particular activity
• on the floor of the Stock Exchange (= where trading takes place)
see also dance floor, factory floor, shop floor
FOR WAGES/PRICES
7. countable, usually singular the lowest level allowed for wages or prices
• Prices have gone through the floor (= fallen to a very low level).
compare ceiling (2)
more at be/get in on the ground floor at ground floor
Word Origin:
Old English flōr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vloer and German Flur.
Thesaurus:
floor noun
1. C, usually sing.
• She sat on the floor and watched TV.
ground • • earth •
Opp: ceiling
on/under the floor/ground/earth
drop/fall to (the) floor/ground/earth
reach/hit (the) floor/ground
2. C
• an office on the third floor
level • • deck • |especially BrE storey • |AmE usually story •
on the top, etc. floor/level/deck/storey
the top/upper/lower floor/level/deck/storey
the main floor/deck
Floor or storey? Use floor to talk about which level of a building sb lives/works on; use storey to talk about how many floors a building has
• His office is on the fifth floor.
• a five-storey house
British/American:
floor
In BrE the floor of a building at street level is the ground floor, the one above it is the first floor and the one below it is the basement, or lower ground floor in a public building.
In NAmE the floor at street level is usually called the first floor, the one above it is the second floor and the one below it is the basement. In public buildings the floor at street level can also be called the ground floor.
note at storey
Synonyms:
floor
ground • land • earth
These are all words for the surface that you walk on.
floor • the surface of a room that you walk on: ▪ She was sitting on the floor watching TV.
ground • (often the ground) the solid surface of the earth that you walk on: ▪ I found her lying on the ground. ◊ ▪ The rocket crashed a few seconds after it ▪ left the ground ▪.
land • the surface of the earth that is not sea: ▪ It was good to be back on ▪ dry land ▪ again. ◊ ▪ They fought both at sea and ▪ on land ▪.
earth • (often the earth) the solid surface of the world that is made of rock, soil, sand, etc: ▪ You could feel the earth shake as the truck came closer.
ground, land or earth?
Ground is the normal word for the solid surface that you walk on when you are not in a building or vehicle. You can use earth if you want to draw attention to the rock, soil etc. that the ground is made of. Land is only used when you want to contrast it with the sea: the land beneath our feet ◊ feel the land shake ◊ sight ground/earth ◊ travel by ground/earth
on/under the floor/ground/earth
bare floor/ground/earth
to drop/fall to the floor/the ground/(the) earth
to reach the floor/the ground/land
Which Word?:
storey / floor
You use storey (BrE)/story (NAmE) mainly when you are talking about the number of levels a building has: ▪ a five-storey house ◊ ▪ The office building is five storeys high.
Floor is used mainly to talk about which particular level in the building someone lives on, goes to, etc: ▪ His office is on the fifth floor.
note at floor
Example Bank:
• Do you mind sitting on the floor?
• His glass fell to the floor and broke.
• I can't sleep on the bare floor!
• The offices occupy the top floor of the building.
• a cafe on the mezzanine floor
• Her office is on the second floor.
• His footsteps echoed on the wooden floor.
• She was sitting on the floor watching TV.
• The bathroom floor was flooded with water.
• The vase fell to the floor with a crash.
• Their house is on three floors.
• There is a lift/an elevator to all floors.
• There were wooden panels from floor to ceiling.
• There's not really enough floor space in here.
• to clean/wash/sweep the floor
Idioms: get have the floor ▪ hold the floor ▪ mop the floor with somebody ▪ take the floor
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
floor / flɔː r / / flɔːr / noun [ C usually singular ] (SURFACE)
A1 the flat surface of a room on which you walk:
The floor was partly covered with a dirty old rug.
The bathroom floor needs cleaning.
The children sat playing on the floor.
There's barely enough floor space to fit a bed in this room.
floor / flɔː r / / flɔːr / noun [ C ] (LEVEL OF BUILDING)
A2 a level of a building:
This building has five floors.
Take the elevator to the 51st floor.
We live on the third floor.
a ground floor apartment
floor / flɔː r / / flɔːr / noun (OPEN SPACE)
B1 [ C usually singular ] a public space for activities such as dancing and having formal discussions:
a dance floor
The new proposal will be discussed on the floor of the House of Commons (= in Parliament) tomorrow.
He spent several years working on the factory floor (= in the factory) before becoming a manager.
The chairman said that he would now take questions from the floor (= from the audience) .
have the floor to have the right to speak:
Silence, please, the prime minister has the floor.
take (to) the floor to stand and begin to dance:
The newlyweds were the first to take the floor.
take the floor start speaking:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will take the floor for his Budget speech at 3.00 p.m.
floor / flɔː r / / flɔːr / noun (BOTTOM)
the floor the bottom surface of the sea, a forest, a cave, etc.:
the floor of the ocean/the ocean floor
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
floor
/flɔ:(r)/
(floors, flooring, floored)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
The floor of a room is the part of it that you walk on.
Jack’s sitting on the floor watching TV...
We painted the wooden floor with a white stain.
N-COUNT: usu the N in sing
2.
A floor of a building is all the rooms that are on a particular level.
It is on the fifth floor of the hospital...
They occupied the first two floors of the tower.
= storey
N-COUNT: usu supp N
3.
The ocean floor is the ground at the bottom of an ocean. The valley floor is the ground at the bottom of a valley.
N-COUNT: usu sing, with supp, oft n N
4.
The place where official debates and discussions are held, especially between members of parliament, is referred to as the floor.
The issues were debated on the floor of the House.
N-COUNT: usu the N in sing
5.
In a debate or discussion, the floor is the people who are listening to the arguments being put forward but who are not among the main speakers.
The president is taking questions from the floor.
N-SING-COLL: the N
6.
The floor of a stock exchange is the large open area where trading is done.
...the dealing floor at Standard Chartered Bank.
N-COUNT: usu sing, with supp
7.
The floor in a place such as a club or disco is the area where people dance.
N-COUNT
8.
If you are floored by something, you are unable to respond to it because you are so surprised by it.
He was floored by the announcement...
He seemed floored by a string of scandals.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed
9.
see also floored, flooring, dance floor, first floor, ground floor, shop floor
10.
If you take the floor, you start speaking in a debate or discussion. If you are given the floor, you are allowed to do this.
Ministers took the floor to denounce the decision to suspend constitutional rule...
Only members would be given the floor.
PHRASE: V inflects
11.
If you take to the floor, you start dancing at a dance or disco.
The happy couple and their respective parents took to the floor.
PHRASE: V inflects
12.
If you say that prices or sales have fallen through the floor, you mean that they have suddenly decreased.
Property prices have dropped through the floor...
PHRASE: PHR after v
13.
If you wipe the floor with someone, you defeat them completely in a competition or discussion. (INFORMAL)
He could wipe the floor with the Prime Minister.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1floor /ˈfloɚ/ noun, pl floors
1 [count] : the part of a room on which you stand
• Keep your feet on the floor.
• washing the kitchen floor
• a marble/tile/hardwood floor
2 [count]
a : the lower inside surface of something (such as a vehicle)
• the floor of a car
b : the area of ground at the bottom of something - usually singular
• the ocean floor
• the forest floor
3 [count] : a level in a building
• She lives on the second floor of a five-story building.
• His office is located on the fourth floor.
- see also first floor, ground floor
4 [count] : a large indoor space where people gather for some activity - usually singular
• the floor of the convention/legislature
• the factory floor
• the dance floor
• buying and selling shares on the floor of the exchange
5 [singular] : the people who are gathered in a place for a public meeting
• He will now take questions from the floor.
6 [count] : a lower limit - usually singular
• establishing a floor for wages and prices
• The value of the stock has dropped/gone/fallen through the floor. [=to a very low level]
- opposite ceiling
have the floor : to have the right to speak at a public meeting
• May I have the floor?
hold the floor : to be the person who is speaking at a public meeting
• The senator held the floor for several hours.
on the cutting-room floor
- see cutting room
take the floor
1 : to begin speaking at a public meeting
• After Senator Smith was finished addressing the assembly, Senator White took the floor.
2 : to go out onto a dance floor to begin dancing
• Several couples took the floor.
